IME  LIFE  OF  CHRIST 


R.J.  CAMPBELL 


liiiiiiij 


iff 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST 

By  R.  J.  CAMPBELL,  D.D.,  OXONIAN 
VICAR  OF  CHRIST  CHURCH,  WESTMINSTER 
FORMERLY  Ji^^jt^^ji^^ 
MINISTER  OF  THE  CITY  TEMPLE,  LONDON 
AUTHOR    OF    A    SPIRITUAL    PILGRIMAGE 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK      ^      ^      ^       MCMXXI 


COPYRIGHT,  192 1,  BY 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


FBINTBD  IN  THH  CNITBD  STAISS  OF  AMSRICA 


BT 

30\ 


e 


TO 

MY  OLD  FRIENDS  OF  THE  CITY  TEMPLE 

AND 

THE   SUNDAY  MORNING   CONGREGATION 

OF      CHRIST      CHURCH,      WESTMINSTER, 

THIS  BOOK  IS  INSCRIBED 


1927308 


PREFACE 

This  book  requires  some  explanation.  Six  years 
ago,  at  the  request  of  Messrs.  Cassell,  the  author 
undertook  to  write  a  life  of  Christ  which  should 
meet  the  needs  of  the  ordinary  churchgoer  in  re- 
gard to  the  devout  study  of  the  subject  without 
ignoring  the  accepted  conclusions  of  scholarship. 
The  difficulty,  foreseen  from  the  first,  in  executing 
this  commission  was  that  of  compressing  the  ma- 
terial into  manageable  one- volume  space,  and  it  was 
a  difficulty  which  became  accentuated  as  time  went 
on,  especially  with  the  rapidly  rising  cost  of  book 
production  in  consequence  of  the  war.  The  work 
grew  under  the  writer's  hands  to  such  proportions 
that  he  asked  the  publishers  to  allow  him  to  divide 
it  into  a  short  series  of  smaller  volumes  instead  of 
presenting  it  whole  and  entire  in  one.  This  they 
could  not  see  their  way  to  do — at  any  rate  not  at 
present — so  the  course  has  had  to  be  adopted  of 
cutting  down  the  matter  to  the  dimensions  avail- 
able. It  is  hoped  that  at  some  future  time  this  short 
outline  of  a  great  subject  may  be  supplemented  by 
a  homiletical  commentary  on  the  gospels. 

For  this  is  essentially  a  preacher's  life  of  Christ 

in  so  far  as  it  is  a  life  of  Christ  at  all.    There  is  no 

life  of  Christ,  nor  ever  will  be,  with  our  present 

vu 


yiii  PREFACE 

knowledge  of  the  brief  earthly  story  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  A  problem  it  is,  a  problem  it  must  re- 
main. But  in  this  book  the  author  has  endeavored 
to  commend  a  special  point  of  view,  the  point  of 
view  of  Christian  experience,  as  being  of  first  im- 
portance for  the  study  of  the  gospel  records;  and 
he  has  never  lost  sight  of  his  congregation.  This 
book  has  been  preached  almost  in  its  entirety — in 
part  to  the  City  Temple  congregation,  and  the  re- 
mainder to  the  Sunday  morning  congregation 
which  the  author  addresses  week  by  week  in  Christ 
Church,  Westminster.  Hence  the  homiletical 
method  predominates  in  the  treatment  of  the  con- 
tents and  the  principles  governing  their  selection. 
Should  any  reader  be  disposed  to  complain  of  a 
lack  of  proportion  in  the  discussion  of  one  aspect 
of  the  general  subject  as  compared  with  another, 
he  will  now  understand  the  reason.  It  was  impos- 
sible to  give  adequate  space  to  all,  so  a  choice  had 
to  be  made.  The  omissions  will  be  obvious.  To 
examine  the  parables  in  detail,  for  instance,  would 
require  an  extra  volume. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  worth  while  to  mention  that 
the  principle  has  been  followed  herein  of  putting 
capitals  only  when  a  word  has  some  claim  to  stand 
for  a  unique  idea.  Thus  the  Church  universal  is 
spelt  with  a  capital,  any  local  church  with  a  small 
initial  letter;  the  Kingdom  of  God  with  a  capital, 
any  kingdom  of  this  world  with  a  small  initial  let- 
ter; the  word  Gospel  itself  should  represent  the 
Christian  evangel  as  a  whole,  while  any  one  of  the 
four  gospels  may  be  written  without  a  capital. 


PREFACE 


IX 


In  view  of  the  fact  also  that  this  book  is  intended 
for  the  use  of  the  average  man  or  woman  who  is  in 
the  habit  of  attending  piibhc  worship,  a  careful  se- 
lection has  been  made  of  literature  cited  in  the  text 
or  wherewith  to  continue  the  studv.  It  is  to  be  re- 
gretted  that  not  all  of  this  is  obtainable  in  English, 
though  the  greater  part  of  it  is.  The  titles  are  given 
in  English  throughout. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    Introductory 1 

Religion  in  History 1 

The  Two  Planes  of  Being 7 

The  Problem  of  the  Life  of  Jesus  ...  16 

II.    Principal  Sources  for  the  Life  of  Jesus  24 

The  Apostolic  Story 24 

Critical  Theories 32 

Importance  of  Apocalyptic      ....  47 

III.  Conditions  in  the  Time  of  Jesus     ...  50 

Religion  and  Race 50 

Palestine  and  the  World-Empire  ...  53 

Religious  Parties 57 

State  of  the  People 63 

IV.  The  Gospels,  Canonical  and  Uncanonical  68 

The  Earliest  Writing 68 

The  Gospel  of  Matthew 70 

The  Gospel  of  Mark 72 

The  Gospel  of  Luke 77 

The  Latest  of  the  Gospels 83 

Extracanonical  Writings 90 

V.     The  Nativity  and  Childhood     ....  96 

The  Virgin  Birth 96 

The  Genealogies 100 

The  Census 103 

The  Annunciation 105 

What  Happened  at  Bethlehem     .      .      .  106 

The  Settlement  in  Galilee 114 

The  Boy  Jesus  in  Jerusalem  ....  118 

Jesus' Kindred 120 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


VI.     On  the  Threshold  of  the  Ministry    .      .  125 

Relations  with  John  the  Baptist  .      .      .  125 

The  Spiritual  Crisis  Following  the  Baptism  132 

The  Good  News  of  the  Kingdom  ...  136 

The  Kingdom  and  the  Messiah      .      .      .  138 

Jesus  and  Messiahship 140 

Mystery  of  Jesus'  Self-Knowledge    .      .  144 

VII.    The  Commencement  of  Jesus'  Public  Life  152 

The  First  Disciples 152 

In  Cana  of  Galilee 158 

The  First  Cleansing  of  the  Temple  .      ,  164 

The  Interview  with  Nicodemus    .      .      .  172 

The  Woman  of  Samaria 177 

The  Early  Galilean  Ministry  ....  181 

"Works  of  Healing 186 

Public  Teaching 189 

VIII.     The  Early  Ministry .202 

The  Sequence  of  Events 202 

Additional  Wonder-Working        .      .      .  204 
End  of  the  Distinctively  Synagogue  Min- 
istry       , 216 

Beginnings  of  Definite  Opposition      .      .  224 

The  Commission  to  the  Apostles  .      .      .  232 

The  Baptist's  Message  to  Jesus  .      .      .  237 

IX.    The  Culminating  Period  of  the  Ministry  248 

Jesus'  Relations  with  His  Family      .     .  248 

The  Warning  against  Blasphemy  .      .      .  253 

Jesus'  Power  over  the  External  World  .  256 

Jesus  as  Teacher 284 

X.    Last  Phase  of  the  Ministry    ....  302 

Defections  and  Plottings 302 

Retirement  to  Foreign  Soil     ....  305 
Wanderings  in  the  North:   the  Scene  at 

Caesarea  Philippi 311 

The  Transfiguration  and  Its  Sequel  .      .  318 

Events  in  the  South 331 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XI.    The  Passion,  Resurrection,  and  Ascension  357 

Events  Antecedent  to  the  Last  Passover  357 

Last  Journey  to  Jerusalem     ....  362 

Events  of  Passion  Week 371 

Jesus  Put  to  Death 385 

"He  Is  Risen" 396 

Appendices        413 

Personal  Appearance  of  Jesus  ....  413 

The  Kind  of  Home  in  Which  Jesus  Lived  418 

Bibliography 421 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY 

Religion  in  History 

The  period  of  recorded  human  history  is  but 
short  compared  with  the  unnumbered  ages  which  He 
behind.  Science  tells  us  that  our  world  has  been 
millions  of  years  in  preparation  for  the  advent  of 
humanity ;  there  may  even  have  been  organic  life  on 
this  planet  millions  of  years  ago ;  but  man  himself, 
man  as  clearly  distinguished  from  the  brute  crea- 
tion, is  only  of  yesterday.  And  of  that  yester- 
day what  a  small  portion  is  thoroughly  known! 
History,  properly  speaking,  begins  a  few  genera- 
tions back,  and  beyond  that  is  a  far  longer  stretch 
of  time  concerning  which  we  know  almost  nothing. 
Primeval  man  has  left  many  traces  behind  him, 
principally  implements  of  war  and  the  chase,  but 
how  he  thought  and  felt  about  the  great  mystery 
that  we  call  life  is  completely  hidden  from  us.  Per- 
haps he  did  not  think  and  feel  much;  perhaps  the 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

fierce  necessities  of  existence  forbade  the  contempla- 
tion of  abstract  questions ;  perhaps  he  had  no  more 
inchnation  or  capacity  for  these  than  an  AustraHan 
aborigine  has  at  the  present  day.  Still  there  is  this 
to  be  said  about  the  matter,  that  what  specially  dif- 
ferentiates man  from  all  other  living  creatures  is 
that  he  does  ask  questions,  he  does  wonder  and  wor- 
ship, he  does  seek  to  know  how  he  stands  related  to 
the  power  or  powers  partially  revealed  in  the  phe- 
nomenal universe.  A  savage  might  not  put  the  case 
to  himself  in  this  way,  nor  have  the  capacity  for 
doing  so,  but  even  in  animism  this  is  Avhat  is  dimly 
present  to  his  mind.  He  is  ever  conscious  of  a 
beyond,  a  veiled  presence,  a  greater  than  himself, 
with  which  (or  whom)  he  has  to  do^vhether  he  will 
or  no.  This  may  not  be  a  very  lofty  experience  in 
its  initial  stages,  but  such  as  it  is  it  is  the  root  of  all 
religion.  For  religion  is  essentially  a  reaching  out 
to  what  is  above  and  beyond  ourselves,  above  and 
beyond  all  that  we  can  see  and  know  of  the  material 
order  of  things.  It  is  our  attempt  to  enter  into  rela- 
tions with  our  cause ;  and  man  in  the  mass  has  never 
yet  been  persuaded  that  that  cause  is  itself  material. 
We  instinctively  feel  it  to  be  spiritual — that  is,  self- 
conscious  as  we  are  self-conscious,  and  capable  of 
willing  and  acting  as  we  will  and  act.  Nay,  more — 
it  is  that  whence  we  derive  these  qualities  and  capa- 
cities. 

Let  it  be  recognized  as  aforesaid  that  it  is  highly 
improbable  that  primitive  man  reasoned  in  this 
way;  but  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  psychology  of 
undeveloped  races  in  the  world  to-day,  he  went 


INTRODUCTORY 

straight  to  the  mark  and  took  it  all  for  granted,  as 
it  were.  He  could  not  help  investing  the  forces  of 
nature  with  the  kind  of  intelligence  he  himself  pos- 
sessed, and  assuming  that  those  forces  were  directed 
by  thought  and  purpose;  and  where  you  get  that 
you  get  religion.  We  have  no  good  ground  for 
thinking  that  any  other  earthly  creature  is  capable 
of  so  much ;  man  is  the  being  with  the  upward  look ; 
we  might  almost  say  that  the  capacity  for  religion 
is  the  dividing  line  between  the  human  and  sub- 
human kingdoms.  Nowhere  do  we  find  man  with- 
out religion;  it  is  that  which  constitutes  him  man. 
This  statement  may  be  gainsaid,  but  only  by  citing 
the  most  degraded  and  abnormal  types  of  human- 
ity. The  history  of  man  is  the  history  of  religion. 
Every  achievement  that  stands  to  his  credit  in  his 
long  and  arduous  upward  climb  is  directly  or  indi- 
rectly associated  with  his  religious  consciousness. 

Short  as  is  the  period  of  recorded  history,  it  is 
longer  than  we  used  to  think.  We  have  now 
good  reason  for  believing  that  civilization  reaches 
back  as  far  as  10,000  B.C.  and  even  farther.  Re- 
ligion has  succeeded  to  religion  in  that  vast  period 
of  time,  race  to  race,  society  to  society.  But  one 
thing  is  certain  throughout,  and  that  is  that  man  has 
ever  been  deeply  impressed  by  the  mystery  of  his 
being  and  his  dependence  upon  superhuman  power. 
The  instinct  of  worship  has  always  made  itself  felt 
within  him,  together  with  the  ineradicable  belief 
that  his  sources  are  in  the  unseen,  that  his  nature  is 
fundamentally  spiritual  and  therefore  not  wholly 
to  be  interpreted  in  terms  of  his  fleshly  constitution. 

3 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  admitted  that  on  the 
whole  the  religious  systems  of  the  world  have  not 
been  very  elevating.  In  many  instances  they  can 
only  be  classed  as  degrading  and  cruel  superstitions ; 
not  a  few  were  and  are  morally  licentious.  It  can- 
not be  maintained  that  religion  has  invariably  and 
necessarily  had  a  lofty  or  inspiring  influence  upon 
the  ideals  and  conduct  of  mankind;  too  frequently 
it  has  had  quite  the  reverse.  Even  such  a  marvel- 
ously  developed  civilization  as  that  of  classical 
Greece  was  from  the  religious  point  of  view  in  many 
ways  anything  but  admirable ;  ^  the  gods  and  god- 
desses of  the  Greek  pantheon  were  credited  with 
being  rather  worse  in  their  behavior  than  their  vo- 
taries. No  one  could  pretend  that  Greek  religion 
stood  for  idealism  in  belief  and  practice,  though  this 
is  a  statement  which  may  require  to  be  modified  if 
we  have  regard  to  the  products  of  Greek  philosophy 
which  assimilated  itself  very  readily  later  in  certain 
ways  to  the  Christian  religion.^  We  also  need  to 
take  account  of  the  fact  that  the  various  Greek  mys- 
tery-cults which  came  into  existence  near  to  the 
Christian  era  seem,  as  far  as  we  can  gather — for  we 
have  not  much  reliable  information  about  them — to 
have  laid  stress  upon  ideas  which  we  now  think  of  as 
specifically  Christian.  The  idea  of  sacrifice  is  one 
of  these — the  sacrifice  of  God  for  man.  Bound  up 
with  this  is  another,  that  of  the  dying  and  rising 

^  But  for  a  balanced  and  illuminating  view  of  this  subject  vide 
Prof.  Gilbert  Murray's  Four  Stages  of  Greek  Religion. 

2  Vide  Lewis  Campbell :  Religion  in  Greek  Literature,  chap,  xiii 
to  end ;  T.  R.  Glover :  Conflict  of  Religions  in  Early  Roman  Em- 
pire, p.  106  ff;  Lecky:  History  of  European  Morals,  Vol.  I,  chap, 
ii,  p.  161  ff. 

4 


^  .       INTRODUCTORYj 

savior.^    And  behind  both  is  the  thought  of  a  world 
needing  to  be  redeemed  from  its  evil. 

But  the  most  noteworthy  fact  relating  to  religion 
in  the  ancient  world  is  the  rise  of  the  Israelitish 
prophets.  It  should  be  understood  by  modern  read- 
ers that  these  were  primarily  preachers,  not  merely 
soothsayers  or  foretellers  of  events.*  And  thev 
rendered  one  inestimable  service  to  all  the  ages  that 
followed  them,  ours  as  much  as  anv,  and  that  was 
their  welding  of  religion  and  morality.  Believing 
themselves  to  be  divinely  inspired,  they  taught  that 
their  God,  the  God  of  Israel,  must  be  worshiped  in 
righteousness.  Hence  Israelitish  religion  is  a  unique 
fact  in  history ;  it  stands  by  itself  both  in  the  purity 
of  its  lofty  monotheism  and  in  the  wonderful  influ- 
ence it  has  exerted  upon  the  rest  of  the  world.  It 
would  be  more  correct  to  say  Jewish  religion,  for  it 
is  onl}^  the  tribe  of  Judah  that  has  persisted  right 
through  the  ages  and  given  its  name  to  the  faith 
from  which  Christianitj^  sprang.  The  other  tribes 
which  constituted  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Israel 
have  for  the  most  part,  through  successive  con- 
quests and  apostasies,  been  scattered  and  merged  in 
surrounding  kindred  peoples.  The  Jews  alone, 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  their  national  exist- 
ence, have  preserved  their  consciousness  of  identity 
and  their  ancient  faith ;  they  have  been,  as  they  still 

sjt  may  be  new  to  some  readers  that  this  was  ever  a  Greek  idea 
or  in  fact  any  other  than  a  Christian  idea ;  but  the  knowledge  is  of 
value  as  showing  that  the  preparation  in  history  for  the  Christian 
faith  was  wider  and  deeper  than  is  often  supposed. 

*  Hamilton :  People  of  God,  Vol.  I,  chap,  v,  and  Marti's  excellent 
chapter  on  this  subject  in  his  Religion  of  Old  Testament  (Williams 
&  Norgate). 

5 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

are,   a   peculiar   people   in   more   ways   than   one. 
It  need  hardly  be  said  that  Judaism  was  not  al- 
ways the  clear-cut  ethical  and  monotheistic  system 
that  it  is  to-day  or  that  it  was  in  later  Old  Testa- 
ment times.    Originally  Jehovah  (Yahweh)  was  re- 
garded by  the  people  of  Israel  as  only  one  God 
among  many,  their  own  particular  tribal  deity  as 
distinguished  from  the  deities  of  other  nations.  And 
the  righteousness  insisted  upon  by  the  earlier  proph- 
ets as  acceptable  to  Jehovah  was  often  grim  and 
terrible,  far  removed  indeed  from  the   Christian 
standard  with  which  we  are  familiar  to-day.     But 
at  least  it  can  be  said  that  the  religious  ideal  and  the 
ethical  ideal  were  held  to  imply  each  other;  the 
prophets  would  not  suffer  them  to  be  considered 
apart.     This  was  why  the  prophets  strove  so  hard 
throughout  the  history  of  Israel,  while  it  remained 
one,  and  not  a  very  large  one,  of  the  number  of 
Semitic   nations   inhabiting   hither   Asia,   to   pre- 
serve   the   national   worship    from    contamination 
from    foreign    sources.       Elijah's     fierce    battle 
against    the    Baalim,    for    instance,    was    not    a 
mere  question  of  names;  all  the  future  of  the  race 
was  at  stake.    Had  Baal  worship  prevailed  it  would 
have  meant  a  permanent  lowering  of  the  whole 
standard  of  moral  and  religious  belief  and  practice ; 
Israel  would  have  become  assimilated  in  manners 
and  conduct  to  the  rest  of  the  Canaanitish  peoples, 
and  probably  like  these  would  ultimately  have  per- 
ished from  the  earth.    It  is  a  very  impressive  fact 
in  the  providential  order,  when  we  come  to  consider 
it,  that  this  did  not  happen,  but  that  Israel — or  at 


INTRODUCTORY 

least  Judaism — survived  to  maintain  a  constant  wit- 
ness to  the  unity  and  righteousness  of  God,  the 
power  behind  phenomena,  the  Creator  and  sustainer 
of  all  that  is.  For  gradually  the  God  of  Israel  came 
to  be  thought  of  as  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  the 
one  and  only  God;  and  the  idea  of  righteousness 
was  slowly  clarified  and  ennobled  until  the  fuller 
and  higher  Christian  revelation  became  possible.' 

This  is  one  fact  then  to  be  specially  noted:  the 
religion  of  Israel  is  a  unique  phenomenon  in  the 
pre-Christian  world.^  The  claim  made  for  it  is  fully 
justified,  that  it  represents  a  special  divine  revela- 
tion, a  preparation  for  a  true  world-religion  when 
the  time  should  be  ripe.  Its  very  narro^\Tiess  and 
exclusiveness,  which  we  must  note  later,  and  its  de- 
termination to  arrogate  to  itself  a  position  of  privi- 
lege in  relation  to  the  things  of  God,  may  actually 
have  helped  up  to  a  point  to  preserve  the  content  of 
this  revelation;  but  those  bonds  had  to  be  burst  in 
the  end  to  give  room  for  the  ampler  life  which  had 
sprung  up  within  the  old  Jewish  environment.^ 

The  Two  Planes  of  Being 

Now  for  a  space  let  us  turn  away  from  the  his- 
torical standpoint  and  consider  another.  Instead 
of  going  back  into  the  past  to  learn  how  things  have 
come  to  be  what  they  are  in  the  present,  we  maj^ 

5  Marti,  ut  sup.  p.  4  et  seq.  Hamilton:  ut  sup.,  Vol.  I,  chaps, 
iii,  iv. 

^  This  view  has  been  challenged,  but  is  surely  demonstrable  from 
the  facts  of  history. 

"^  Addis:  Hebrew  Religion  (Williams  &  Norgate),  pp.  76,  138, 
152  ff.  Loisy:  Religion  of  Israel,  v,  vi,  Judaism  and  Messianism. 
Cf.  Montefiore:   Religion  of  the  Ancient  Hebrews,  concluding  Lect. 

7 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

view  the  whole  subject  in  an  equally  important  but 
entirely  different  way :  we  may  examine  the  struc- 
ture of  existence  itself. 

In  modern  times  science  has  been  familiarizing 
us  with  a  view  of  the  constitution  of  the  universe 
which  at  first  sight  might  seem  to  leave  little  room 
for  religion.    We  find  the  universe  to  be  vaster  than 
the  ancients  ever  knew,  the  particular  star  on  which 
we  live  being  one  of  the  smallest  out  of  untold  myri- 
ads.   It  is  wonderful,  amazing  beyond  words,  to  the 
imagination   inconceivable   in   its    immensity,   this 
universe  of  universes  in  a  comparatively  tiny  speck 
of  which  we  dwell  and  are  whirled  through  space 
with  a  velocity  all  but  immeasurable.    This  stupend- 
ous whole  of  things  is  said  by  somejto  be  self-con- 
tained and  self-sufficient.     Out  of  the  boundless 
ocean  of  ether,  which  forms  its  basis,  solar  systems 
continually  arise,  evolve,  pursue  their  course  for  an 
indefinite  number  of  ages,  disintegrate  and  sink 
back  into  their  primordial  elements  only  to  begin 
the  same  process  all  over  again ;  there  is  no  cessation 
to  it.    At  this  moment  in  the  heaven  above  us  we 
can  observe  planetary  aggregations  at  every  stage 
of  the  co«mic  integration  and  dissolution  through 
which  the  particular  group  of  worlds  to  which  our 
mother  earth  belongs  has  passed,  is  passing,  and 
will  pass  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  life 
of  a  sun  and  his  satellites. 

As  far  as  the  planet  earth  is  concerned  the  details 
of  the  process  up  to  the  present  have  been  fairly 
well  laid  bare.  We  have  learned  from  what  lowly 
beginnings  organic  life  took  its  rise,  and  how  slowly 


INTRODUCTORY 

and  painfully  it  has  developed  through  species  after 
species  till  its  culmination  in  man.  Some  authori- 
ties maintain  that  it  is  going  on  farther,  and  will  by 
and  by  produce  a  superman.  That  may  be;  re- 
ligion need  have  no  quarrel  with  the  thought;  but 
so  far  man  represents  nature's  supreme  achieve- 
ment. We  need  not  argue  the  question  whether 
any  outside  agency  was  required  for  making  him 
what  he  is,  or  whether  the  slow  and  gradual  opera- 
tion of  natural  forces  and  material  conditions  was 
sufficient  for  the  purpose.  Here  he  is,  and  there  is 
that  in  him  which  is  not  to  be  accounted  for  on  ma- 
terial grounds  alone.  He  can  wonder,  love,  plan, 
achieve ;  he  can  probe  nature's  secrets  and  make  use 
of  nature's  powers  to  his  own  ends ;  he  may  be  com- 
paratively puny  in  face  of  nature's  colossal  energies 
and  terrific  catastrophes,  but  he  knows,  and  he 
knows  that  he  knows,  whereas  nature  does  neither. 
This  one  impressive  fact  that  here  is  a  being  that 
knows,  a  being  that  can  think  and  plan,  that  can 
look  before  and  after,  is  not  to  be  explained  by  evo- 
lution or  natural  selection  or  any  other  theory  of 
existence  which  takes  account  of  the  material  and 
phenomenal  only.  It  belongs  to  another  order  of 
things  altogether.  JMan  is  a  being  belonging  to  the 
visible  universe  in  his  body  and  the  conditions  under 
which  it  has  to  be  kept  alive ;  but  he  belongs  to  some- 
thing superphysical  in  what  is  most  reallj^  himself, 
his  thinking  part,  that  of  him  which  knows,  and 
feels,  and  aspires. 

This  consideration  throws  us  back  upon  a  thought 
implied  in  all  which  has  been  said  hitherto,  namely, 

9 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

that  religion  is  primarily  the  assertion  of  a  super- 
natural order  as  contrasted  with  the  natural.®  This 
is  the  most  important  thing  to  grasp  at  this  stage 
of  our  inquiry.  The  world  that  lies  open  to  us 
through  the  five  senses  represents  an  order  of  things 
complete  and  coherent  in  itself.  It  is  an  order 
wherein  are  certain  observable  sequences  which  we 
call  laws.  These  sequences  are  both  of  time  and 
space,  and,  constituted  as  we  now  are,  we  cannot 
think  without  them.  If  we  press  our  analysis  of 
them  far  enough  we  find  that  they  tend  to  disap- 
pear or  to  result  in  hopeless  mental  tangles  and  con- 
tradictions, but  we  cannot  get  outside  them.  For 
instance,  let  us  say,  it  is  twenty  minutes  to  seven 
by  the  clock  as  you  read  these  words,  but  it  was 
about  twenty-five  minutes  past  six  when  you  first 
began  to  do  so.  "No  one  could  convince  the  ordi- 
nary plain  man  that  that  lapse  of  time  has  not 
meant  a  real  and  lasting  change;  when  an  hour  is 
gone,  it  is  gone  never  to  return.  We  live  so  many 
years,  and  we  too  pass  away,  never  to  return.  Gen- 
eration succeeds  to  generation,  life  to  life,  age  to 
age.  We  live  all  our  days  in  time-relations,  and 
we  cannot  conceive  what  a  state  would  be  like  in 
which  there  was  no  time.  It  is  the  same  with  space 
— in  fact  the  two  imply  each  other.  Form,  color, 
mobility,  distinguishing  characteristics — all  these 
depend  upon  our  constant  experience  of  an  order 
of  things  in  which  we  are  governed  by  the  ideas  of 
space  and  time.    It  takes  us  so  long  to  walk  across 

*  Employing  neither  term  in  the  strict  theological  sense  as_  defined, 
e.g.,hy  Fr.  Sollier  in  Catholic  Encyclopcedia  (Caxton  Publishing  Co.). 

10 


INTRODUCTORY 

the  room,  so  much  longer  to  journey  from  London 
to  Edinburgh  by  train,  and  so  much  longer  still  to 
travel  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  We  are  born, 
grow  up,  marry  and  are  given  in  marriage,  struggle, 
suffer,  grow  old,  decay,  and  die — unless  we  are  cut 
off  before  our  time.  Everything  else  follows  much 
the  same  course,  be  it  long  or  short.  The  sun  rises 
and  sets,  flowers  bloom,  rivers  flow,  all  in  conformity 
with  certain  observable  sequences  bound  up  with 
space  and  time.  Within  limits  we  can  depend  upon 
these  absolutely.  "While  the  earth  remaineth,  seed- 
time and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease."  ^ 

Such  is  the  natural  order.  We  cannot  imagine 
any  other.  Try  to  picture  any  other,  and  at  once 
you  are  at  fault.  Do  what  you  will,  the  order  you 
picture  will  have  three  dimensions — length,  breadth, 
and  height.  You  may  draw  a  fearsome  dragon  for 
your  little  boy,  such  a  dragon  as  the  world  never 
saw  and  never  will  see,  but  j^ou  will  have  to  give  it 
the  same  kind  of  organs  as  you  possess  yourself  in 
common  with  the  rest  of  creation.  The  limbs  with 
which  you  invest  it  may  be  such  as  no  creature  has 
ever  walked  about  on,  but  they  will  be  limbs.  Its 
eyes  may  dart  flames  of  fire  or  scintillate  with  all 
the  hues  of  the  rainbow,  but  they  will  be  eyes ;  and 
so  on  with  all  the  rest  of  it.  We  cannot  even  in 
imagination  escape  the  dominion  of  the  natural  or- 
der, although,  as  has  already  been  indicated,  the 
fact  that  we  can  conceive  of  and  direct  our  conduct 
by  such  values  as  love,  truth,  honor,  and  the  like, 

®  Gen.  viii.    22. 

11 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST  v 

shows  that  we  have  affinities  with  something  not 
wholly  to  be  expressed  in  terms  of  the  natural 
order/* 

Is  there  then  a  higher  order  of  being  than  this 
natural  order  with  which  we  are  so  well  acquainted? 
Yes,  all  religion  affirms  it;  all  goodness  declares  it. 
What  is  it  like?  We  do  not  know,  and  by  our  own 
unaided  faculties  have  no  means  of  knowing.  "Eye 
hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered 
into  the  heart  of  man  the  things  which  God  hath 
prepared  for  them  that  love  him."  ^^  But  this  much 
we  know  about  it  on  the  testimony  of  divine  reve- 
lation and  of  our  own  finer  instincts,  a  witness  at- 
tested by  the  highest  spiritual  experience,  that  it  is 
all-perfect.  No  one  needs  to  be  told  that  the  nat- 
ural order  is  very  far  from  being  perfect.  Things 
seem  to  have  gone  wrong  somewhere ;  the  conditions 
of  earthly  life  are  very  unideal  indeed ;  the  world  is 
a  scene  of  strife  and  trouble.  For  the  lowest  of 
created  things  to  the  highest  every  species  has  to 
fight  for  its  life  and  lives  by  killing.  Man  is  the 
worst  of  all  in  this  respect,  for  he  kills  most  ruth- 
lessly. The  higher  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  being 
the  more  our  capacity  for  pain  increases;  we  have 
more  to  fear,  and  have  to  add  care  and  sorrow  to 
the  physical  terrors  to  which  our  humbler  kinsfolk 
are  subject.  It  is  no  wonder  that  idealists  in  all 
ages  have  dreamed  of  a  state  wherein  the  wicked 
cease  from  troubling  and  the  weary  are  at  rest. 
Clearly  this  is  not  it,  nor  from  the  evidence  of  his- 

^^  Bushnell :  Nature  and  the  Supernatural  (Dickinson,  1887),  chap, 
ii.     Erskine  of  Linlathen :    The  Spiritual  Order,  chap,  i,  p.  H. 
"I  Cor.  ii.    9. 

12 


INTRODUCTORY 

tory  is  this  ever  likely  to  be  made  even  approxi- 
mately like  it;  and  supposing  this  could  be  made 
like  it,  what  of  the  unnumbered  multitude  of  human 
beings  of  past  and  present  who  would  have  no  share 
in  the  grand  result? 

Let  us  not  be  misled  here.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  two  planes  of  being  is  not  a  mere  matter 
of  geography;  we  do  not  pass  out  of  the  one  into 
the  other  as  we  pass  out  of  one  room  into  another; 
the  two  interpenetrate,  or  rather  the  higher  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  interpenetrates  the  lower  though  we  are 
only  dimly  conscious  of  it.  Further,  the  Christian 
hope  is  that  one  day  the  higher  will  fully  invade 
and  possess  the  lower  and  transform  its  whole  char- 
acter. 

We  must  lay  firm  hold  upon  this  one  grand  con- 
ception: There  is  a  supernatural  order  wherein 
everything  is  already  perfect,  just  what  it  ought  to 
be.  It  is  that  which  is,  that  which  abides,  as  op- 
posed to  all  that  appears  to  be  and  passes  away. 
Nothing  needs  to  be  added  to  it,  nothing  can  be 
taken  from  it.  It  is  a  state  of  perfect  harmony, 
perfect  bliss,  perfect  good  will,  a  state  wherein  all 
noblest  hopes  are  fulfilled  and  all  beautiful  dreams 
have  already  come  true.  We  cannot  perceive  that 
state,  for  it  is  not  revealed  to  flesh  and  blood ;  it  is 
not  cognizable  by  the  five  senses ;  it  is  not  governed 
by  natural  laws ;  nor  is  it  confined  within  the  cate- 
gories of  space  and  time.  Nevertheless  we  cannot 
say  that  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  us  at  all.  The 
natural  order  is  not  without  evidence  of  the  super- 
natural wherever  the  material  is  the  vehicle  of  the 

13 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

spiritual.  All  gracious  and  uplifting  things  that 
enter  into  our  experience  are  tokens  of  the  super- 
natural order.  The  two  stand  related  to  each  other 
as  a  glorious  landscape  to  its  blurred  and  broken 
reflection  in  the  waters  of  a  lake.^^  In  some  degree 
heaven  is  continually  present,  and  in  special  ways 
is  continually  breaking  through  into  the  darkness 
and  disorder  of  earth.^' 

There  have  been  many  of  these  special  invasions, 
no  doubt.  Tokens  abound  of  the  nearness  and  po- 
tency of  that  invisible  order  whence  we  derive  and 
towards  which  all  our  highest  aspirations  are  con- 
sistently directed.  Visions  and  revelations  of  the 
Lord  have  been  vouchsafed  to  the  spiritually  sus- 
ceptible from  age  to  age.  In  spite  of  all  denials  and 
all  secularity  of  temper,  the  supernatural  is  con- 
stantly reasserting  itself  in  the  experience  of  man- 
kind. Celestial  beings  have  revealed  themselves  to 
terrestrial  observers  occasionally  in  times  of  spe- 
cial stress  or  urgent  need;  intimations  have  never 
been  wanting  of  the  fact  that  heaven  takes  a  vivid 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  earth  and  is  ever  ready  to 
help.  The  story  of  the  angels  of  Mons,  whether 
true  or  imaginary,  does  not  stand  by  itself;  there 
are  many  like  it,  and  their  frequency  and  persist- 
ence are  a  standing  proof,  if  proof  were  needed, 

12  Rende!  Harris :  Sidelights  on  New  Testament  Research,  p.  220. 
The  primitive  Christians  under  Platonic  influence  "had  perhaps  heard 
that  the  visible  world  was  connected  with  an  ideal  world  of  which 
it  was  the  outward  stamp  or  expression." 

i3Eucken:  Life  of  the  Spirit  (Williams  &  Norgate),  chaps,  ii  and 
iii,  and  Truth  of  Reliaion  (Dr.  Tudor  Jones'  translation)  has  much 
suggestive  matter  on  this  point.  Also  Wicksteed's  striking  essay  on 
the  "Religion  of  Time  and  the  Religion  of  Eternity"  in  Studies  in 
Theology  (J.  M.  Dent),  1903. 

14 


INTRODUCTORY 

that  a  more  or  less  continuous  commerce  is  main- 
tained between  the  hither  and  the  yonder,  the  higher 
and  the  lower,  the  natural  and  the  supernatural. 

But  there  is  no  need  to  lay  stress  upon  quasi- 
miraculous  visitations  in  support  of  the  statement 
that  these  two  planes  of  being  can  and  do  communi- 
cate with  each  other  to  a  certain  extent:  it  is  better 
to  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  spiritual  life  itself. 
Messengers  of  God  have  generally  declared  them- 
selves to  be  conscious  of  special  divine  inspiration  in 
preparation  for  their  work,  and  often  this  prepara- 
tion has  been  preceded  or  accompanied  by  something 
supernormal,  some  opening  of  the  eyes  to  the  pres- 
ence of  what  is  ordinarily  hidden  from  human  ap- 
prehension.    As  examples  of  this  we  might  cite 
Isaiah's  vision  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  and  that 
of  Saul  of  Tarsus  on  the  road  to  Damascus.    In 
each  case  we  have  the  sudden  unveiling  of  super- 
sensuous  realities  in  such  a  way  that  the  percipient 
found  it  impossible  to  doubt  his  vocation  or  the 
overwhelming  importance  of  the  spiritual  order  as 
contrasted  with  the  material.    Abundance  of  sim- 
ilar testimom^  exists  even  to-day.  And  every  saintly 
soul  knows  and  would  be  prepared  to  maintain  that 
faith,  goodness,  humility  can  at  any  time  contact 
the  spiritual  plane  and  receive  assurance  of  help 
and  strengthening.    These  are  they  whose  conver- 
sation is  in  heaven,  who  are  already  li\nng  witK 
greater  or  less  success  the  life  eternal  in  the  midst 
of  the  things  of  time.^* 

Beyond   all   reasonable   question,  however,   tHe 

"Von  Hugel:  Eitrnal  Life. 

Iff 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

greatest  invasion  of  the  natural  order  by  the  super- 
natural that  has  ever  been  made  took  place  about 
nineteen  centuries  ago  when  a  little  child  was  born 
in  Palestine  whose  name  has  since  become  to  the 
whole  civilized  world  what  Mr.  Gladstone  called 
"the  one  central  hope  of  our  poor  wayward  race.** 
If  there  be  a  supernatural  at  all — and  upon  that 
postulate,  as  we  have  seen,  all  idealism  truly  rests — 
then  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  into  the  world  is 
the  strongest  evidence  of  it  that  has  ever  been  given. 
It  need  hardly  be  pointed  out  here  that  the  word 
"supernatural"  as  thus  employed  does  not  relate 
wholly  or  principally  to  what  are  commonly  re- 
garded as  miraculous  events:  it  means  that  plane 
of  being  which  transcends  all  that  we  at  present 
know  as  the  natural  world;  and  nearly  everyone 
would  admit  that  the  person  and  influence  of  Jesus, 
whoever  He  may  be,  are  indissolubly  associated 
in  our  minds  with  the  conception  of  the  supernat- 
ural order  and  all  that  it  implies.    What  we  have 
to  learn  if  we  can  is  how  His  life  relates  itself  to 
history  on  the  one  hand  and  to  eternal  reality  on 
the  other. 

The  Problem  of  the  Life  of  Jesus 

There  are  two  ways  of  approaching  the  study 
of  this  unique  life.  The  first  is  that  which  has  been 
in  vogue  ever  since  Strauss  published  his  Leben 
Jesu  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century;  that 
is,  the  assumption  that  it  can  be  explained  on  purely 
naturalistic  hypotheses.  This  is  or  used  to  be  the 
confessed  or  unconfessed  prepossession  of  most  of 

IS 


INTRODUCTORY 

the  modern  advanced  critics  of  the  gospel  sources. 
They  start  with  the  bias  that  the  historical  Jesus, 
if  He  can  be  found,  will  be  discovered  to  be  a  per- 
son of  extraordinary  religious  genius  perhaps,  but 
in  all  essentials  like  other  persons  who  have  left 
their  mark  upon  history.  At  the  very  outset  they 
tacitly  rule  out  the  possibility  that  He  may  belong 
to  a  different  category  altogether.  They  look  for 
an  ordinary  human  being  of  more  than  ordinary  en- 
dowments, and  then  try  to  reconcile  what  they  find 
in  the  New  Testament  with  this  theory.  Even  when 
they  admit  the  presence  of  certain  supernormal 
elements  in  His  nature  and  work  they  discuss  these 
throughout  from  the  naturalistic  standpoint.  They 
explain  away  as  much  as  they  can  of  the  miraculous 
and  exceptional  in  the  records  that  exist  concerning 
Him.  No  one  can  read  their  works  without  per- 
ceiving that  the  problem  before  these  experts  is 
that  of  smoothing  away  the  abnormalities  in  the 
life  of  Jesus  as  compared  with  other  lives.  By 
some  of  them  the  abnormalities  are  frankly  re- 
garded as  incredible;  and  what  such  inquirers  seek 
to  do  is  to  get  behind  these  in  some  way  and  come 
upon  what  they  believe  to  be  the  real  Jesus,  the 
Jesus  who  did  not  work  miracles  or  make  stagger- 
ing claims  in  regard  to  His  own  person  and  its 
special  relation  both  to  God  and  man.  The  fact 
that  in  so  doing  they  would  not  have  much  left  has 
all  along  been  felt  to  be  a  very  real  difficulty  in  the 
scientific  examination  of  what  is  to  be  known  about 
Jesus."    It  presents  us  with  an  insoluble  problem. 

^'  As  e.g.  in  Schmiedel's  much  discussed  article  on  the  gospels  in 
Encyclopcedia  Biblica. 

17 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

To  believe  that  Jesus  actually  lived,  and  yet  refuse 
to  believe  in  the  supernatural  portents  that  attended 
His  birth  and  His  public  ministry,  or  that  He  ever 
used  the  language  that  has  been  put  into  His  mouth 
about  His  Messiahship,  His  second  coming,  and 
the  like,  is  to  be  landed  in  a  maze  of  critical  ques- 
tions to  which  no  answers  are  forthcoming. 

The  outstanding  fact  to  which  we  have  thus 
drawn  attention  should  be  definitely  recognized  for 
what  it  is  or  our  study  is  marred  at  the  outset.  We 
cannot  study  the  life  of  Jesus  as  we  should  study 
that  of  Mahomet  or  John  Wesley:  the  subject  be- 
fore us  is  of  another  kind,  and  that  is  why  so  much 
of  the  criticism  of  Christian  origins  has  gone  wide 
of  the  mark.  The  Church  of  Jesus  is  as  unique  as 
the  being  to  whom  it  owes  its  origin  and  claims  to 
owe  its  present  existence.  It  is  not  like  any  other 
society  and  no  other  can  be  placed  in  comparison 
with  it.  In  making  this  statement  we  do  not  beg 
the  question  of  the  true  constitution  of  the  Church 
or  whether  Jesus  ever  intended  to  found  a  Church ; 
these  questions  do  not  govern  the  issue.  The 
Church  is  a  fact  in  history,  a  fact  which  bulks  large, 
and  we  cannot  rightly  dissever  the  life  that  gave 
it  birth  from  the  experience  of  that  life  which  has 
been  developed  and  maintained  within  the  Church 
through  many  generations.  If  we  could  place  any 
other  society  in  the  wide  world  alongside  of  the 
Christian  Church  and  compare  the  two  our  task 
would  be  easier.  But  we  cannot;  we  have  no  ana- 
logue for  it."    Here  we  have  a  great  international 

18  Swete :   Holy  Catholic  Church,  pp.  30,  142. 

18 


INTRODUCTORY 

organization  or  group  of  organizations  with  laws  of 
its  own  and  a  life  of  its  own  distinct  from  that  of 
the  world  around  it.  Its  aims  and  standards  are 
not  those  of  other  associations  of  human  beings, 
whether  political,  scientific,  literary,  or  commercial. 
It  claims  to  be  a  supernatural  society  and  to  be  sus- 
tained and  directed  from  a  higher  world.  The 
claim  may  be  admitted  or  rejected  but  cannot  be 
ignored.  Much  fault  is  being  found  with  the 
Church  at  the  present  time  among  all  classes  and 
in  nearly  all  countries;  it  has  obvious  defects  and 
partakes  greatly  of  the  evils  and  disabilities  of  the 
secular  communities  within  which  it  carries  on  a 
corporate  existence.  Many  of  the  attacks  upon  it 
are  justified  up  to  a  point  by  the  weakness  and  in- 
eptitude, not  to  use  a  stronger  term,  of  its  mem- 
bers; but  when  its  friends  fear  and  its  foes  exult- 
antly proclaim  that  its  day  is  done  they  forget  that 
Jesus  is  said  to  have  definitely  prophesied  that  this 
should  not  be,  and  that  He  Himself  would  remain 
with  it  to  the  end  of  time.  The  Church  cannot 
perish  and  Jesus  live. 

This  suggests  the  second  point  of  view  alluded 
to  above  from  which  to  aj^proach  the  study  of  the 
life  of  Jesus.  It  is  the  Jesus  presented  to  us  in  the 
continuous  experience  of  the  living  Church  with 
whom  we  have  acquaintance,  not  a  Jesus  disinterred 
from  written  records.  If  the  Church  could  have 
been  blotted  out  of  existence,  and  all  knowledge  of 
its  teachings  and  institutions  have  disappeared  as 
completely  as,  say,  the  religion  of  ISIithras,  and 
we  were  rediscovering  tlie   New  Testament  and 

19 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

reading  its  contents,  there  would  be  little  need  to 
discuss  the  person  of  Jesus:  He  would  have  no 
reality  for  us.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  many 
people  realize  how  true  this  is  or  how  little  de- 
pendent we  are  upon  the  printed  page  after  all 
for  what  we  know  of  Jesus.  We  know  him  mainly 
and  immediately  through  the  life  of  the  Church 
and  then  we  go  to  the  printed  page  with  that  con- 
ception of  Him  in  our  minds  and  find  it  there  also ; 
in  fact  the  Jesus  of  the  gospels  and  epistles  is  the 
projection  of  the  experience  of  the  apostolic 
Church.  That  experience  has  been  passed  on  from 
age  to  age  and  life  to  life  up  to  the  present  hour ;  it 
is  that  which  we  are  really  investigating  when  we 
inquire  into  Christian  origins  and  the  verdict  of 
criticism  upon  the  New  Testament  writings  and 
their  various  affinities.  Let  us  not  lose  sight  of 
this  truth.  When  all  is  said  and  done  the  living 
tradition  counts  for  more  than  the  written  word, 
or  rather,  the  written  word  only  yields  up  its  true 
meaning  and  value  when  interpreted  in  the  light 
of  the  living  tradition.  We  know  Jesus  in  the 
New  Testament  because  we  already  know  Him  in 
the  Church  which  gave  us  the  New  Testament.  The 
Church  was  in  existence  before  the  New  Testa- 
ment, in  a  sense  was  itself  the  New  Testament  from 
the  first,  the  embodiment  of  a  new  life,  a  new  spir- 
itual idea,  and  the  presentation  of  a  new  hope  for 
mankind.  There  is  no  break  in  its  continuity;  it  is 
the  same  Church  to-day  as  in  the  apostolic  age,  and 
its  witness  to  the  Savior  it  proclaims  is  the  same. 
Theologies  may  come  and  go,  but  the  Jesus  of 

20 


INTRODUCTORY 

Christian  faith  and  worship  possesses  an  immediacy 
independent  of  all  theorizing  about  its  nature,  an 
immediacy  indissolubly  one  with  the  life  of  the 
Church  He  indwells. 

Ever)^  reader  knows  the  impossibility  of  convey- 
ing a  complete  pen  picture  of  any  personality  what- 
soever. You  may  describe  minutely  the  appear- 
ance, manners,  voice,  and  other  peculiarities  of  a 
new  acquaintance,  but  you  do  not  succeed  in  giving 
to  any  one  at  a  distance  your  own  impression  of 
the  man  himself,  his  spiritual  idiom,  so  to  speak ;  the 
thing  which  constitutes  that  man's  special  individu- 
ality and  differentiates  him  from  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  is  the  indescribable.  No  matter  how  mucli 
you  may  have  heard  beforehand  about  a  person  or 
read  of  him  and  his  doings,  it  is  only  when  you 
come  into  actual  contact  with  him  that  you  receive 
a  true  idea  of  what  he  is.  It  is  the  present  writer's 
conviction  that  this  has  been  largely  overlooked  in 
recent  years  in  the  criticisms  of  New  Testament 
literature.  The  only  right  method  of  approach  to 
the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testament  is  through  the  liv- 
ing witness,  the  witness  of  His  continued  presence 
with  His  Church.  No  other  method  can  yield  any 
but  misleading  results. 

Again,  be  it  understood  that  this  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  the  discussion  of  dogma.  One  can  gain 
a  psychological  impression  of  a  personality  without 
knowing  anything  of  its  antecedents  or  associations. 
And  many  simple-hearted  folk  have  this  kind  of 
impression  of  Jesus  without  being  able  to  define 
His  relation  to  the  Godhead  or  to  expound  a  single 

21 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

clause  of  the  creed.  They  know  Him  in  Himself, 
are  conscious  of  His  quality,  respond  to  His  spirit, 
lie  close  to  His  heart,  without  being  able  in  any 
way  to  explain  to  a  third  party  how  much  this  re- 
lationship implies.  Such  devotional  knowledge  of 
Jesus,  which  is  of  the  very  essence  of  all  spiritual 
communion  with  Him,  has  only  been  made  possible 
through  the  supernatural  life  inherent  in  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  Christian  Church.  It  is  upon  this 
that  we  must  chiefly  rely  if  we  are  to  study  the  life 
of  Jesus  with  profit.  We  may  neglect  as  outside 
the  area  of  our  present  interest  all  purel)^  dogmatic 
questions  and  confine  ourselves  to  examining  what 
is  to  be  known  about  Jesus  from  the  record  of  His 
earthly  ministry  as  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  Church  to-day  as  in  the  days  before  the  'New 
Testament  was  written. 

In  delimitating  therefore  the  field  within  which 
to  work  for  the  purposes  of  our  present  study  we 
must  exclude  from  consideration  all  such  subjects 
as  the  combination  of  two  natures  in  one  person, 
the  Kenosis  or  self-emptying  of  the  eternal  Son  in 
taking  upon  Himself  human  flesh  and  living  a  hu- 
man life,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  proces- 
sion of  the  Holy  Ghost.  These  lie  outside  our 
range  though  some  might  consider  it  impossible  to 
write  about  the  life  of  Jesus  without  taking  them 
into  account.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
divine  plan  of  redemption  as  it  is  popularly  called ; 
we  shall  not  argue  about  the  Atonement,  nor  is  it 
necessary  to  discuss  at  length  whether  Jesus  be- 
lieved in  the  Fall  or  not  and  how  far  the  Christian 

83 


INTRODUCTORY 

conception  of  immortality  is  governed  by  the  as- 
sumption of  some  original  catastrophe  by  which  all 
creation  has  been  vitiated  and  the  course  of  human 
evolution  deflected  from  its  true  path.  We  are  not 
obliged  to  make  any  dogmatic  assumptions  at  all. 
It  is  enough  for  us  if  we  can  obtain  a  firm  grasp  of 
the  kind  of  person  the  Church  has  always  affirmed 
Jesus  to  be  and  the  kind  of  life  which  it  derives  f ron> 
Him.  What  He  was  must  inevitably  precede  any 
discussion  of  who  He  was.  It  was  what  He  was 
that  made  those  nearest  to  Him  in  the  first  instance 
realize  His  superhumanity.  There  is  no  need  to 
describe  this  elaborately;  everyone  has  a  more  or 
less  accurate  idea  of  the  kind  of  person  Christians 
believe  Jesus  to  have  been  and  the  kind  of  character 
He  required  in  His  followers  though  few  perhaps 
understand  what  a  revolution  these  have  effected  in 
the  moral  standards  of  civilization.  We  cannot  re- 
gard what  Jesus  was  as  an  open  question ;  we  must 
assume  that  to  be  settled  by  nineteen  centuries  of 
Christian  witness.  Hence  when  critics  of  the  gos- 
pel records  of  His  ministry  diverge  from  the  ac- 
cepted view  of  the  Church  on  this  point  we  can  only 
repty  that  they  are  not  in  a  position  to  determine 
it;  we  know  Jesus,  not  from  criticism  of  literary 
sources,  but  from  the  one  unimpeachable  fact  that 
there  is  a  continuity  of  Christian  life  which  claims 
to  derive  historically  from  Him  and  to  be  immedi- 
ately dependent  upon  fellowship  with  Him  in  the 
ordinances  of  the  Church  and  the  ministry  of  the 
word. 


CHAPTER  II 

PRINCIPAL  SOURCES  FOR  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

The  Apostolic  Story 

Bearing  in  mind  then  that  we  can  only  rightly 
approach  the  study  of  the  life  of  Jesus  through  the 
Church's  continuous  experience  of  Him,  the  ques- 
tion at  once  arises,  Are  we  in  a  position  to  know 
what  the  Church  thought  and  said  about  Him  at 
first?  and  happily  the  answer  is  in  the  affirmative. 
The  period  of  Church  history  of  which  we  know 
least  is  not  the  very  earliest  but  that  which  imme- 
diately succeeded  it,  not  the  apostolic  but  the  sub- 
apostolic  age.  The  first  preachers  of  the  Christian 
gospel  and  organizers  of  the  original  Christian  so- 
ciety had  a  story  to  tell  and  they  told  it  wherever 
they  went.  They  made  converts  by  that  story  which 
included  the  description  of  a  new  life  which  they 
themselves  claimed  to  have  received  through  their 
association  with  Jesus.  The  story  has  been  pre- 
served for  us  within  the  pages  of  a  comparatively 
small  book.  Strictly  speaking  the  New  Testament 
is  not  a  book  at  all  but  a  collection  of  letters  and 
tracts  consisting  mainly  of  versions  of  or  comments 
upon  one  and  the  same  apostolic  story.    Some  part 

24 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

of  it,  principally  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
Apocalypse,  relates  more  to  the  doings  of  the  story- 
tellers themselves  and  the  prospects  of  the  new  so- 
ciety they  were  forming  and  administering  than  to 
the  subject  matter  of  their  message,  but  the  story  is 
not  omitted  even  in  these.  It  is  the  story  of  the 
Son  of  God  who  came  do^vn  from  heaven  to  give 
life  unto  the  world,  the  story  which  in  concentrated 
form  constitutes  the  substance  of  the  Christian 
creed  to  this  day,  for  even  the  repetition  of  the 
creed  is  the  telling  of  a  story. 

The  earliest  part  of  this  story-telling  to  be  put 
into  literary  form  is  probably  the  letters  written  by 
St.  Paul  to  churches  and  individuals  in  whom  he 
was  specially  interested.  These  do  not  tell  us  much 
about  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  but  they  show  that 
from  the  very  beginning  the  person  of  Jesus  was 
regarded  in  much  the  same  way  by  His  followers 
as  it  is  regarded  still — that  is,  at  least,  from  the 
time  of  His  final  departure  from  the  visible  world. 
There  may  be  an  earlier  document  than  any  of  St. 
Paul's  letters,  namely  a  collection  of  the  sayings 
of  Jesus  embedded  in  the  gospels  of  St.  Matthew 
and  St.  Luke;  but  this  is  doubtful.  It  is  the 
epistles,  not  the  gospels,  that  come  first  in  the  order 
of  time,  broadly  speaking,  a  valuable  fact  for  the 
right  interpretation  of  the  latter;  the  gospels  came 
into  existence  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  epistles  and 
tell  in  greater  detail  the  story  of  the  same  person; 
it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  writers  can  have 
had  any  other  standpoint  than  that  of  Christians  in 
general  at  the  time  they  wrote.     It  is  important 

25 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

to  realize  this,  for  superficially  there  is  a  very  great 
difference  between  the  atmosphere  of  the  epistles 
and  that  of  the  gospels,  or  at  any  rate  that  of  the 
first  three  gospels.  Had  these  gospels  been  written 
before  the  Pauline  and  other  epistles  appeared  it 
might  have  been  possible  to  argue  with  some  show 
of  reason  that  a  remarkable  human  teacher,  the 
theme  of  the  former,  had  by  the  latter  been  exalted 
into  a  position  he  was  never  meant  to  occupy.  But, 
as  we  see,  it  was  just  the  reverse.  The  divine 
Savior  was  first  preached,  and  then  the  little  mem- 
oirs of  His  earthlv  life,  with  which  the  New  Testa- 
ment  begins,  were  added  to  the  apostolic  record. 

But  here  again  care  should  be  taken  not  to  con- 
fuse the  issues.  The  gospels  tell^us  about  a  real 
person,  not  about  an  imaginary  figure  derived  from 
the  testimony  of  the  epistles  or  the  belief  of  the 
Church  in  which  the  epistles  arose.  The  attempt 
made  in  recent  years  to  suggest  the  opposite  view 
has  been  generallj'^  rejected  by  New  Testament 
scholars.^  The  truth  is,  as  above  mentioned,  that 
the  apostolic  story  was  thoroughly  familiar  to  the 
primitive  Church.^    There  was  no  need  at  first  to 

1  Vide  the  literature  of  the  Christ  Myth  controversy,  notahly 
Drews*  Christ  Myth  and  Conybeare's  trenchant  criticism  thereof 
(R.P.A.).  Also  J.  M.  Robertson:  Pagan  Christs.  Principal  Estlin 
Carpenter's  Historical  Jesus  and  the  Theological  Christ  contains  a 
temperate  and  scholarly  criticism  of  the  Christ  M}'th  theories. 

2  Vide  David  Smith :  The  Days  of  His  Flesh,  Introd.,  wherein  the 
author  shows  very  convincingly  that  at  first  and  throughout  the 
apostolic  age  the  oral  Gospel,  or  "deposit"  as  it  was  called,  was 
considered  of  vital  importance  and  systematically  memorized.  It 
may  be  that  present-day  canons  of  criticism  do  not  sufficiently  allow 
for  this. 

On  the  other  hand,  Prof.  Turner  in  his  lecture  on  the  present  posi- 
tion of  New  Testament  study  says  (p.  37)  :  "To-day  there^  is  not,  I 
suppose,  a  competent  critic  anywhere  who  assigns  anything  but  a 
quite  subordinate  part  to  oral  tradition." 

86 


PRINCIPLE    SOURCES 

make  literature  of  it.  Many  persons  were  living 
when  St.  Paul  was  writing  who  had  seen  Jesus  in 
the  flesh  and  heard  Him  preach — if  preach  be  the 
right  word  to  employ  of  His  public  discourses. 
Most  of  His  relatives  were  still  living,  perhaps  even 
His  mother,  and  there  was  plenty  of  authentic  oral 
testimony  concerning  the  details  of  His  ministry. 
The  special  qualification  of  the  apostles  for  their 
work  was  that  thej^  were  eyewitnesses  of  what  they 
had  to  tell ;  they  had  known  Jesus  in  His  capacity 
of  teacher  with  an  intimacy  which  no  others  pos- 
sessed and  were  clothed  with  an  authority  derived 
directly  from  Himself;  as  long  as  they  were  alive 
and  active  there  could  be  little  need  or  demand  for 
written  narrative.  Their  story  was  the  Gospel,  the 
"good  news"  of  the  new  dispensation.  That  was 
how  the  written  gospels  got  their  name. 

No  doubt  there  was  a  mass  of  floating  tradition 
besides.  Even  a  ministry  of  a  few  months'  dura- 
tion could  cover  more  ground  than  is  described  for 
us  in  the  very  brief  accounts  of  it  which  make  up 
the  bulk  of  the  evangelical  record.  The  greatest 
curiosity  would  prevail,  especially  among  Gentile 
Christians,  to  know  as  much  as  possible  about  Jesus 
as  He  actuallj^  was  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  and  by 
and  by  various  writers  set  to  work  to  satisfy  it — 
indeed  St.  Luke  expressly  says  so  in  the  preface 
to  his  own  gospel.  What  has  become  of  these 
various  efforts  nobody  knows;  perhaps  some  of 
them  may  come  to  light  as  exploration  proceeds, 
as  fragments  of  them  have  already  done;  but  we 
may  fairly  assume  that  the  reason  why  our  canoni- 

37 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

cal  gospels  have  lived  on  when  the  others  perished 
was  that  they  were  better  and  perhaps  fuller;  the 
Church  used  them  more  and  preserved  them  from 
oblivion  by  the  exercise  of  the  same  instinct  as  that 
which  has  created  the  great  literary  classics  of  the 
world.  Not  that  these  booklets  can  claim  great 
literary  merit;  their  merit  is  of  another  and  higher 
order;  they  enshrine  for  us  for  all  time  an  almost 
contemporary  portrait  of  the  person  who  matters 
more  to  mankind  than  all  the  men  of  letters  who 
have  ever  lived. 

But,  let  it  be  understood,  the  Gospel  was  prior 
to  the  gospels.  There  was,  be  it  repeated,  a  great 
story  to  tell,  the  story  of  the  birth,  work,  words, 
aims,  superearthlj^  significance,  -  passion,  death, 
resurrection,  and  return  to  heaven  of  One  the  like 
of  whom  had  never  dwelt  amongst  men  before.  It 
was  a  wonderful  story  and  those  who  listened  to  it 
wanted  to  hear  more ;  hence  with  the  ob j  ect  of  meet- 
ing this  very  natural  desire  a  gradually  increasing 
literature  came  into  existence,  mostly  imaginative, 
part  of  which  has  come  down  to  us  under  the  desig- 
nation of  the  apocryphal  gospels.  In  the  present 
writer's  opinion  we  may  be  mistaking  the  purpose 
with  which  some  of  these  were  written;  they  may 
not  have  been  written  as  serious  contributions  to  our 
historical  knowledge  of  the  subject  of  which  they 
treat;  it  is  more  likely  that  they  were,  or  most  of 
them  were,  produced  with  a  view  to  pleasing  or  edi- 
fying their  readers  and  in  much  the  same  spirit  as 
religious  fiction  at  the  present  day.  Works  are  not 
unknown  in  our  own  time  in  which  the  person  of 

28 


PRIXCIPAL   SOURCES 

our  Lord  is  introduced  as  the  central  figure,  but 
no  one  supposes  for  a  moment  that  these  are  meant 
as  statements  of  sober  fact  or  to  be  regarded  as  re- 
hable  in  the  same  way  as  the  New  Testament  is 
rehable.  Perhaps  this  distinction  explains  much 
that  is  puzzling  in  the  quality  of  the  apocryphal 
gospels  as  contrasted  with  the  canonical ;  the  canoni- 
cal derive  directly  from  the  apostolic  tradition  and 
the  apocryphal  do  not ;  the  latter  are  a  proof  of  the 
widespread  interest  existing  in  Christian  circles 
from  the  earliest  time  in  all  that  pertained  to  Jesus. 
It  was  a  loving  interest,  an  interest  that  delighted 
to  magnify  the  miraculous  and  exceptional  in  His 
doings  without  necessarily  taking  these  extra- 
canonical  accounts  of  them  very  seriously.  In  no 
other  way  can  we  explain  the  fact  that  the  sound 
judgment  of  the  Church  was  never  deceived  as  to 
which  gospels  were  the  really  authentic  and  trust- 
worthy ones.  The  drop  down  from  the  exalted 
moral  level  and  dignified  tone  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  the  extravagances  of  the  apocryphal  nar- 
ratives is  very  marked.  It  does  not  follow  that  all 
the  apocryphal  matter  is  false;  some  element  of 
genuine  tradition  may  have  been  incorporated 
therewitli.  Some  very  beautiful  stories  and  sayings 
are  to  be  found  only  within  the  apocryphal  books, 
and  even  of  those  which  are  obviously  imaginative 
we  may  justly  say  that  a  considerable  proportion 
is  susceptible  of  charmingly  suggestive  spiritual  in- 
terpretation. 

In  seeking  then  for  the  historical  sources  of  our 
knowledge  of  Jesus  we  get  first  the  apostolic  tra- 

29 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

dition,  which  has  been  perpetuated  in  the  very  hfe 
of  the  Church  in  so  far  as  its  view  of  its  founder  is 
concerned;  then  comes  the  New  Testament  litera- 
ture in  which  the  substance  of  the  apostolic  tradi- 
tion is  enshrined,  a  literature  which  is  itself  a  selec- 
tion made  by  the  mind  of  the  Church  from  a  much 
larger  mass  of  material  which  existed  at  the  close 
of  the  apostolic  age  and  fragments  of  which  have 
come  down  to  us ;  and  lastly  we  have  an  amount  of 
extracanonical  literature,  most,  if  not  all,  of  which 
came  into  existence  after  the  New  Testament  was 
written,  and  which  professes  to  give  details  of  the 
life  of  Jesus  not  included  in  the  New  Testament. 
We  may  follow  the  example  of  the  ancient  Church 
in  rejecting  these  as,  for  the  most  part,  spurious, 
save  and  except  that  they  illustrate  the  belief  in 
the  superhuman  status  of  Jesus  which  was  held  in 
Christian  circles  from  the  very  first.  Let  this  once 
be  grasped  by  the  modern  reader  and  a  great  deal 
else  becomes  plain.  The  farther  back  we  push  our 
inquiry  into  Christian  origins  the  more  certain  it 
becomes  that  Jesus  never  was  regarded  by  His  fol- 
lowers— unquestionablj''  not  after  His  resurrection 
and  ascension,  however  these  events  are  to  be  ex- 
plained— as  a  human  person  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  term.  He  was  worshipped  as  superhuman, 
as  a  being  from  a  higher  world,  as  in  some  sense 
divine.  We  are  on  the  wrong  track  if  we  attempt 
to  begin  with  a  human  person  who  was  gradually 
deified  by  the  devout  imagination  of  the  Church 
after  the  apostles  had  passed  away.    Nothing  could 

be  farther  from  the  truth.    The  apostles'  doctrine 

so 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

concerning  the  person  they  had  to  proclaim  to  the 
world  was  substantially  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Church  to-daj^;  if  there  were  any  danger  of  exag- 
geration in  what  was  said  and  thought  about  Jesus 
in  the  earlier  period  of  the  Church's  life,  as  is 
abundantly  evident  from  the  contents  of  the  apocry- 
phal gospels,  it  was  that  of  losing  sight  of  our  Lord's 
true  humanity  altogether;  it  was  this  that  at  first 
the  Church  had  to  struggle  hardest  to  conserve  in 
faith  and  worship — belief  in  the  real  manhood  of 
the  wondrous  being  who  had  lived  and  taught  in 
little  Palestine  for  a  few  short  years  and  then  been 
put  to  death,  only,  as  every  Christian  earnestly 
maintained,  to  rise  triumphant  over  death  and  reign 
from  the  eternal  throne.^  We  cannot  be  too  careful 
about  getting  hold  of  the  main  strand  of  testimony 
from  the  beginning;  whether  it  accord  with  our 
present-day  conceptions  of  what  is  inherently  prob- 
able or  not. 

It  is  worth  reiterating  that  the  problem  of  the 
life  of  Jesus  is  not  in  the  main  a  literary  problem; 
we  do  not  need  to  dig  and  delve  amongst  the  meager 
records  of  the  past  in  order  to  discover  what  it  is 
important  to  know  concerning  Him;  we  must  in- 
terrogate the  living  present  and  compare  it  with 
the  testimony  of  the  sacred  page,  sacred  because  of 
the  associations  of  nineteen  centuries.  Christianity 
is  not  primarily  the  religion  of  a  book  but  of  a  per- 
son, a  person  interpreted  through  a  society.  It 
may  be  seriously  questioned  whether  the  critical 

^  Vide  Dorner :  Development  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Person  of 
Christ,  Vol.  I  (1st  Division),  chap,  ii,  pp.  184-252,  more  especially 
the  section  on  the  Gnosis  (229  fif.). 

31 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

problems  of  a  literary  character  which  beset  New 
Testament  study  would  have  assumed  their  present 
magnitude  if  this  principle  had  been  kept  consist- 
ently in  view.  It  is  not  possible  to  discuss  any  New 
Testament  problem  rightly,  much  less  solve  it,  with- 
out allowing  for  the  fact  that  the  New  Testament 
itself  is  only  the  crystallized  Christian  witness  of 
the  first  century  and  that  that  witness  has  been  con- 
tinuous in  the  Church  with  or  without  the  New 
Testament  to  support  it.  The  written  word  is  of 
enormous  value  but  it  is  not  indispensable  whereas 
the  unwritten  tradition  is:  it  is  the  persistence  of 
the  unwritten  tradition  that  has  sent  us  back  to 
study  the  New  Testament  afresh;  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  New  Testament  would  haye  had  no  interest 
for  us  apart  from  the  fact  that  Jesus  is  still  the 
greatest  spiritual  force  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the 
affairs  of  mankind.  But  to  study  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  we  should  study  Homer  is  futile.  Homer 
is  dead  and  gone;  we  can  ignore  the  intervening 
centuries  when  we  bring  higher  and  lower  criticism 
to  bear  upon  his  work.  Jesus  is  not  dead  and  gone, 
or  the  Church  claims  that  He  is  not,  and  there  is 
just  the  difference.  To  treat  a  New  Testament 
problem  as  though  it  had  no  relation  to  the  living 
faith  of  Christendom  is  to  ignore  the  right  per- 
spective in  which  to  encounter  it  with  any  hope  of 
success. 

Critical  Theories 

The  problem  of  New  Testament  criticisms  as  a 
whole  is  not  one  with  which  we  can  concern  our- 

32 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

selves  here  in  detail  but  it  is  requisite  that  we  under- 
stand its  bearing  upon  the  main  question  before  us. 
The  casual  reader  should  be  made  aware  of  the 
scope  and  extent  of  that  problem  and  how  much  it 
signifies  for  Christian  faith.     Its  importance  has 
been  exaggerated  as  we  have  seen,  nevertheless  it 
cannot  be  neglected;  there  are  certain  assured  re- 
sults of  criticism  of  which  we  may  avail  ourselves 
without  misgiving;  no  research  into  historical  rec- 
ords is  ever  likely  to  upset  the  settled  conviction 
of  Christendom  in  relation  to  what  is  to  be  known 
of  Jesus.     Nor  should  the  mistake  be  made  of  as- 
suming that  the   effect   of  scientific   inquiry   into 
Christian  origins  has  been  to  weaken  our  confidence 
in  tlie  transcendent  worth  of  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
for  mankind.     On  the  contrary  we  owe  an  incal- 
culable  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  body  of  experts 
who  in  every  Christian  country  have  toiled  hard 
for  the  last  few  generations  to  place  before  us  a 
clear  picture  of  the  period  in  which  Jesus  lived  and 
the  conditions  under  which  His  work  was  done;  if 
they  have  been  less  successful  in  disposing  of  the 
difficulties  and  perplexities  which  confront  us  on 
every  page  of  the  New  Testament  that  is  not  their 
fault;  at  least  they  have  made  us  aware  of  what 
those    difficulties    and    perplexities    are.      On    the 
whole  we  have  more  to  hope  from  the  spade  and 
mattock,    from    actual   exploration    in   the   Bible 
lands  themselves,   than  we  have   from  theorizing 
scrutiny  of  the  New  Testament  as  it  stands.     We 
now  know  fairly  well  what  Palestine  and  the  world 
around  it  were  like  in  our  Savior's  time;  we  have 

33 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

been  minutely  informed  of  the  factors  in  history 
which  went  to  the  making  of  the  society  in  which 
Jesus  was  born  and  brought  up ;  there  is  httle  that 
is  new  to  say  on  any  of  these  points.  What  we 
should  like  to  know  is  more  about  the  psychology 
of  the  men  and  women  with  whom  He  associated 
and  those  for  whom  the  New  Testament  was  wi*it- 
ten;  we  want  to  know  their  mental  idiom  as  com- 
pared with  our  own — how  they  thought  and  felt, 
what  life  looked  like  to  them,  what  mattered  most 
to  the  mind  of  the  ordinary  person  and  how  he 
viewed  his  dutj^  in  relation  to  God  and  man.  This 
is  a  complex  subject  still  comparatively  obscure. 
It  is  plain  that  the  mental  climate  of  the  gospels 
is  not  like  ours  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
the  miraculous  is  taken  for  granted  throughout. 
Does  the  experience  thus  evinced  correspond  to 
actualities  or  does  it  merely  represent  a  way  of 
speaking?  We  wish  we  knew  for  certain.  The 
caution  needs  to  be  given  to  present-day  readers  of 
the  gospels  that  perhaps  it  is  we  and  not  the  con- 
temporaries of  Jesus  whose  outlook  is  limited  by 
habit  and  training  in  relation  to  the  supernormal. 
To  put  the  issue  at  the  very  lowest  we  ought  to  be 
prepared  to  admit  that  our  mentality  may  lack 
something  which  the  men  and  women  of  the  New 
Testament  possessed  if  theirs  be  wanting  in  much 
that  abounds  in  ours.  This  is  really  the  great  prob- 
lem of  criticism,  to  know  how  to  translate  the  men- 
tal dialect  of  the  New  Testament  into  that  in  which 
we  are  accustomed  to  express  ourselves  to-day,  and 
any  attempt  at  a  satisfactory  solution  will  mean  the 

34 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

shedding  of  some  of  our  most  obstinate  prepos- 
sessions. There  seems  no  point,  for  instance,  in  a 
critical  bias  against  miracles  when  Jesus  is  Himself 
the  one  great  miracle  that  we  have  to  try  to  explain. 
How  does  it  come  that  He  occupies  such  a  dominat- 
ing place  in  the  history  of  civilization  during  the 
past  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  years?  "Wliat  was 
His  secret?  How  far  was  He,  if  at  all,  the  author 
of  the  Church ;  and  what  mysterious  inherent  force 
was  it  that  enabled  the  Church,  not  only  to  survive 
the  overthrow  of  tlie  ancient  social  order  which  may 
almost  be  said  to  have  come  to  an  end  with  the  ad- 
vent of  Jesus,  but  to  substitute  another  for  it  which, 
however  unlike  the  ideal  put  forward  in  the  name 
of  Jesus,  shows  no  signs  of  passing  away  but  on 
the  contrary  of  covering  the  whole  earth?  It  was 
with  the  object  of  discovering  a  solution  of  this 
many-sided  problem  that  scientific  investigation  of 
the  sources  of  the  Xew  Testament  came  into  ex- 
istence. 

Strauss  may  be  said  to  have  begun  it  with  his 
myth  theory  which  is  hardly  yet  superseded  in  many 
quarters  though  now  generally  admitted  to  have 
gone  much  too  far  and  to  have  failed  to  discriminate 
adequately  between  the  various  historical  strata  dis- 
cernible in  the  several  narratives  of  the  four  evan- 
gelists.^ Then  came  Renan  with  his  fascinating 
life  of  Jesus  ^  which  was  mainly  the  author's  own 
subjective   impression,    charmingly   told,   of  what 

*  Leben  Jcsu  (1835-3G).  an  epoch-making  work,  itself  the  product 
of  a  reaction  on  the  part  of  the  author  against  the  supernaturalism 
of  Schleiermacher,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  extreme  rationalists 
who  rejected  the  gospels  as  historical  sources,  on  the  other. 

5  Written  1860. 

?5 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Jesus  was  and  what  He  aimed  at  and  how  He  met 
His  end.  The  author  explains  away  or  ignores  the 
supernatural,  treats  the  gospels  as  on  much  the 
same  level  with  the  legendary  lore  of  monkish 
chronicles  and  as  possessing  much  the  same  intrinsic 
value  for  purposes  of  biography;  he  shows  a  cer- 
tain preference  for  the  fourth  as  being  more  inti- 
mate than  the  others  in  its  portraiture  of  the  Mas- 
ter. He  thinks  he  discerns  a  certain  deterioration 
in  the  temper  and  pure  moral  quality  of  Jesus 
towards  the  end,  that  under  stress  of  opposition  and 
slander  His  vision  becomes  clouded  and  He  Him- 
self fiercer  and  more  fanatical  as  His  troubles  ac- 
cumulate. The  resurrection  story  this  writer  cred- 
its to  the  hysteria  of  ISIarj''  Magdalene  and  the 
deathless  loyalty  of  the  little  group  of  Galilean 
fisher-folk  who  clutched  at  any  straw  of  hope  that 
their  beloved  teacher  could  not  be  wholly  taken 
from  them  nor  be  wrong  in  His  declaration  that  He 
would  rise  from  the  dead  and  return  to  earth  in 
power  and  great  glory  to  confound  His  enemies 
and  usher  in  the  long  and  wistfully  expected  golden 
age.  Needless  to  say  in  view  of  the  critical  work 
of  the  last  fifty  years  this  general  conception  is 
utterly  inadequate  to  explain  the  facts  with  which 
it  deals.  Seeley's  Ecce  Homo,^  published  in  our 
own  country,  and  written  with  some  of  the  same 
literary  charm  as  Kenan's  study — a  charm  which 
the  successive  works  of  Strauss  conspicuously  lack 
— gave  a  humanitarian  picture  of  Jesus,  true  enough 
in  its  main  outlines  as  far  as  it  went  but  hampered 

6  First  issued  anonymously  in  1865. 

36 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

by  the  same  endeavor,  that  of  keeping  the  super- 
natural out  of  due  consideration.  To  the  latter  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century  belong  a  multitude  of 
lives  of  Jesus,  mostly  written  from  the  same  stand- 
point, the  standpoint  which  viewed  Him  as  a  great 
religious  genius,  a  wonderful  spiritual  teacher,  ages 
in  advance  of  His  time  and  put  to  death  on  that 
account  as  the  wavmakers  of  the  race  have  usually 
been  since  time  began.  The  cry  "Back  to  Christ" 
was  raised  and  for  a  long  time  exercised  a  con- 
trolling influence  over  theologian  and  preacher 
alike  and  later  over  the  general  reader  also  in  ever- 
growing degree.  It  had  more  than  one  meaning, 
to  be  sure.  In  one  sense  it  was  an  appeal  from  an 
outworn  ecclesiasticism  to  the  God-man  in  whom 
are  the  springs  of  the  life  of  the  Church;  but  in 
another  and  more  widely  understood  sense  it  meant 
a  reaction  against  the  Christ  of  dogma  as  presented 
by  the  Church  and  an  attempt  if  possible  to  discover 
the  real  Jesus  of  history,  the  Jesus  who  it  was  sup- 
posed had  been  overlaid  and  buried  out  of  sight  by 
the  divine  official  of  the  theologians.  So  criticism 
of  the  sacred  text  went  to  work  hand  in  hand  with 
exploration  of  the  sacred  soil  once  trodden  by  the 
foot  of  the  Son  of  INIan,  together  with  examination 
of  every  historical  authority  which  might  by  any 
chance  be  able  to  throw  light  upon  the  life  He  lived 
and  the  deeds  He  did,  in  the  hope  of  coming  upon 
a  Christ  more  acceptable  to  the  modern  mind  than 
the  supernatural  Christ  of  the  inspired  record  as  of 
the  creeds. 

We  now  know  what  happened.    It  fully  expected 

37 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

to  succeed  in  its  quest.  The  presumption  seemed  a 
reasonable  one  that  if  we  could  only  get  back  to 
the  fountainhead  of  Christianity  we  should  come 
upon  a  supremely  great  man,  great  in  His  verj'' 
lowliness  and  simplicity,  of  pure  and  lofty  character 
and  gifted  with  a  spiritual  intuition  possessed  by 
none  of  His  contemporaries  and  few  if  any  of  His 
successors.  He  would  behave  more  or  less  as  a 
modern  religious  teacher  would  behave,  would  look 
upon  life  much  as  we  look  upon  it,  and  be  too  wise 
as  well  as  too  modest  to  make  astounding  claims  to 
divine  authority  such  as  were  later  made  for  Him. 
His  teaching  would  be  as  simple  as  Himself — a  few 
gi'eat  principles,  a  number  of  imperishable  aphor- 
isms of  universal  application  would  constitute  it, 
all;  its  excellence  would  consist  mainlv  in  the  fact 
that  it  was  so  spontaneous,  so  unfettered  by  tradi- 
tion or  prejudice.  Naturally  such  a  person  would 
put  forth  no  pretension  to  be  a  worker  of  marvels 
— did  He  not  refuse  to  produce  "signs"  for  those 
who  wanted  Him  to  attest  His  credentials  thus? — 
and  He  would  do  His  utmost  to  persuade  His 
hearers  to  regard  God  as  their  Father  and  all  men, 
including  Himself,  as  their  brothers ;  anything  more 
than  this  would  be  superfluous  and  He  would  want 
to  free  men  from  the  burdens  of  ritual  and  tradi- 
tion, not  add  to  them. 

But  ere  long  it  became  evident  that  this  Christ 
was  not  to  be  found.  Most  unwillingly  advanced 
criticism  was  compelled  to  admit  that  He  was  never 
there  to  be  found;  the  only  Christ  of  which  either 
the  New  Testament  or  subapostolic,  extracanonical 

88 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

literature  had  any  knowledge  was  anything  but  a 
nineteenth  century  ethical  teacher,  an  apostle  of 
sweet  reasonableness  many  centuries  before  His 
time.     His  thought   was  not  nineteenth  century 
thought,   His  ways  were  not  nineteenth   century 
ways,  the  world  He  knew  and  the  problems  He 
faced  were  not  of  a  nineteenth  century  cast — not 
western,  not  utilitarian,  not  even  practical  in  the 
sense  ordinarily  understood  by  western  civilization. 
His  outlook  on  life  was  not  ours,  His  presupposi- 
tions were  essentially  different  from  those  with 
which  we  are  most  familiar.  These  are  facts  largely 
concealed  from  modern  western  readers  of  the  New 
Testament  because  we  read  our  own  ideas  and 
modes  of  thought  and  feeling  into  the  evangelic 
narrative.    Above  all  it  became  plain  that  He  was 
utterly  unamenable  to  modern  standards  in  regard 
to  what  is  to  be  expected  of  a  religious  teacher  who 
seeks  a  hearing  amongst  us.     He  made  the  most 
astounding  personal  claims,  exacted  a  homage  from 
His  adherents  such  as  no  prophet  had  dared  to  exact 
before,  and  yet  He  did  so  with  an  entire  absence  of 
the  egotism  and  self-assertion  usual  in  the  case  of 
men  whose  heads  have  been  turned  by  success;  in 
Him  it  was  perfectly  natural,  spontaneous,  and  un- 
forced.   If  evidence  goes  for  anything,  the  evidence 
of  written  word  as  well  as  of  continuous  tradition 
is  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  even  went  to  the  daring 
length  of  associating  Himself  with  Deity  in  unique 
manner  and  degree.     What  was  to  be  made  of  a 
person  like  this?  He  was  as  far  as  possible  removed 
from  the  conception  of  a  mere  preacher  of  right- 

39 


THE    LIFE    or   CHRIST 

eousness,  the  founder  of  a  new  ethical  religion  free 
from  all  burdensome  and  mystifying  dogmas.  The 
presumptions  of  the  religions  of  the  past  were 
nothing  to  those  henceforth  bound  up  with  His 
name.  Was  He  then  a  mere  visionary,  or  what? 
Had  He  a  message  to  all  time  or  had  He  not? 
Criticism  was  forced  within  the  horns  of  a  dilemma, 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  still  there. 
The  purely  human  Christ  does  not  exist,  never  has 
existed.  Either  Jesus  was  superhuman,  as  He 
plainly  said  He  was,  or  His  personality  is  an  utter 
enigma  to  which  we  possess  no  key.  As  stated 
above,  the  further  alternative  that  the  Jesus  of  his- 
tory is  either  a  myth  or  that  He  bears  no  relation 
to  the  Christ  of  the  Church  is  not  to  be  entertained 
by  serious  scholarship.  We  do  know  something 
about  Him,  and  the  only  question  that  admits  of 
discussion  is  how  much  it  implies. 

German  criticism  has  led  the  way  in  attack- 
ing this  problem,  and  it  would  be  idle  as  well 
as  ungracious  to  belittle  what  it  has  achieved,  but 
reaction  against  its  extreme  conclusions  may  now 
be  truly  said  to  have  begun.  Everything  has  been 
adduced  that  could  be  adduced  to  account  for  Jesus 
on  naturalistic  hypotheses,  and  every  such  effort  has 
failed — failed,  that  is,  to  give  an  adequate  explana- 
tion of  all  the  facts  as  furnished  to  us  by  the  Chris- 
tian experience  of  apostolic  times ;  in  other  respects 
they  have  not  failed ;  they  have  cleared  the  ground 
and  brought  into  broad  light  many  things  that  were 
previously  obscure  and  unknown  but  that  are  now, 
of  the  greatest  value  for  obtaining  a  true  perspect- 

40 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

ive  upon  the  whole  subject  of  the  life  of  Jesus. 
Gradually  the  true  sequence  of  the  gospel  tradition 
was  ascertained,  Mark's  gospel  being  established  as 
the  earliest  and  John's  as  the  latest.  In  this  task 
Weisse  ^  and  Wilke  ®  were  the  pioneers,  the  latter 
from  the  Roman  standpoint.  It  was  long,  how- 
ever, before  New  Testament  scholarship  in  general 
was  prepared  to  follow  them  in  asserting  the  pri- 
ority of  the  second  evangelist.  Bruno  Bauer  ^  an- 
ticipated the  Christ  Myth  protagonists  of  the  pres- 
ent day  by  insisting  that  the  gospel  tradition  as  a 
whole  is  not  historical  in  any  sense  but  that  of  re- 
flecting the  mind  of  the  primitive  Church,  and  that 
it  gives  us  no  glimpse  of  the  real  Jesus,  supposing 
such  a  person  ever  lived;  the  real  Jesus  on  this 
hypothesis  has  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  Chris- 
tianity; the  Church  as  a  quasi-mystical  cult  or  so- 
ciety, existing  among  many  others  in  apostolic 
times,  so  idealized  Jesus  for  purposes  of  worship  as 
to  sublimate  Him  away  altogether.  What  we  get 
in  the  gospels,  Bauer  and  his  school  would  contend, 
is  a  series  of  legends  that  arose  within  the  Christian 
community,  and  neither  have  any  biographical  value 
nor  are  consistent  with  each  other. 

Not  even  Strauss  was  prepared  to  accept  this. 
He  insisted  in  his  later  works  that  Jesus  was  a  per- 
sonal force  to  be  reckoned  with,  at  the  same  time 
reiterating  that  the  stories  in  the  gospel  tradition 
are  in  the  main  attempts  to  dramatize  the  new  spir- 

"^  Critical  Study  of  the  Gospel  History  (1838)  and  Present  Position 
of  the  Problem  of  the  Gospels  (1856). 

»  The  Earliest  Gospel  (18^8). 

^  At  first  as  developing  the  theories  of  Strauss,  but  later  in  his 
Criticism  of  the  Gospels  (1850-51)  going  far  beyond  them. 

41 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

itual  experiences  which  Jesus  had  brought  into  the 
world.  Naturally  in  this  view  of  the  subject  the 
fourth  gospel  as  "the  spiritual  gospel"  receives  most 
prominence  and  the  others  correspondingly  recede 
into  the  background.  For  a  time  under  its  influ- 
ence there  was  a  tendency  to  regard  the  gospels  as 
compositions  of  comparatively  late  date,  well  on 
into  the  second  century  and,  by  some  authorities, 
even  into  the  third.  F.»C.  Baur^**  and  the  school 
of  which  he  was  the  most  prominent  master  were 
inclined  to  attribute  the  chief  importance,  not  to 
Jesus,  but  to  St.  Paul,  m  the  work  of  establishing 
Christianity  and  supplying  its  distinctive  features. 
This  was  not  intended  to  belittle  Jesus  but  rather  to 
show  that  the  spiritual  movement  He  had  set  going 
soon  became  a  very  different  thing  when  trans- 
ferred from  Jewish  to  Gentile  soil  and  that  the 
greatest  formative  influence  upon  its  early  develop- 
ment, the  real  creator  of  the  Church  in  fact,  was 
the  mighty  spiritual  genius  known  to  history  as  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles ;  the  question  soon  arose  and 
was  keenly  debated  whether  Paul  had  really  re- 
flected or  deflected  the  Gospel  of  Jesus.  Keim^^ 
and  others  restored  the  balance,  declaring  that  Jesus 
and  not  Paul  must  be  considered  as  central  for  a 
right  understanding  of  the  beginning  of  Christian- 
ity as  a  world  religion;  hence  the  gospels  came  in- 
creasingly to  be  regarded  as  genuine  historical 
sources,  the  fourth  being  separated  from  the  other 
three  and  placed  in  a  category  by  itself.    Bernhard 

^°  In  his  second  and  greater  period  wherein  he  was  probably  stim- 
ulated by  Strauss,  who  had  been  his  pupil  in  earlier  days. 
^^  Jesus  of  Nazara  (Eng.  tr.  1873-83). 

--43 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

Weiss  "  and  Beyschlag,"  following  Holtzmann,^* 
made  elaborate  studies  of  the  life  of  Jesus  in  which 
the  gospels  were  treated  as  historical  documents  of 
much  the  same  character  as  the  "Little  Flowers  of 
St.  Francis."  It  is  to  Holtzmann  more  than  to  any 
man  that  we  owe  the  elaboration  of  the  synoptic 
problem — that  is,  the  problem  of  accounting  for  the 
differences  as  well  as  the  resemblances  in  the  several 
versions  of  a  narrative  more  or  less  common  to  the 
three  earlier  evangelists.  He  it  was  who  first  put 
forward  the  now  generally  accepted  view  that  there 
are  two  main  sources  of  the  synoptic  tradition — 
JMark  for  the  history  and  a  non-JNIarcan  writing  for 
the  teaching. 

Of  Holtzmann's  work  Schweitzer  "  savs:  "Scarce- 
ly  ever  has  a  description  of  the  life  of  Jesus  exercised 
so  irresistible  an  influence  as  that  short  life  outline — 
it  embraces  scarcely  twenty  pages — with  which 
Holtzmann  closes  his  examination  of  the  synoptic 
gospels.  This  chapter  became  the  creed  and  cate- 
chism of  all  who  handled  the  subject  during  the  fol- 
lowing decades,"  and  gives  it  in  summary  thus: 
"That  Jesus  had  endeavored  in  Galilee  to  found  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  an  ideal  sense;  that  He  con- 
cealed His  consciousness  of  being  the  Messiah,  which 
was  constantly  growing  more  assured,  until  His  fol- 
lowers should  have  attained  by  inner  enlightenment 
to  a  higher  view  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  of  the 
Messiah;  that  almost  at  the  end  of  His  Galilean 

i2Lf/(?  of  Jesus  (Eng.  tr.  1883). 
i3Li/r  of  Jesus  (1885-86). 

14  H.  J.  Holtzmann,  The  Synoptic  Gospels  (1863). 
^^  Quest  of  the  Historical  Jesus   (Eng.  tr.),  pp.  203,  204. 

43 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

ministry  He  declared  Himself  to  them  as  the  Mes- 
siah at  C^esarea  Philippi ;  that  on  the  same  occasion 
He  at  once  began  to  picture  to  them  a  suffering 
Messiah,  whose  lineaments  gradually  became  more 
and  more  distinct  in  His  mind  amid  the  growing 
opposition  which  He  encountered,  until  finally  He 
communicated  to  His  disciples  His  decision  to  put 
the  Messianic  cause  to  the  test  in  the  capital,  and 
that  they  followed  Him  thither  and  saw  how  His 
fate  fulfilled  itself.  It  was  this  fundamental  view 
which  made  the  success  of  the  hypothesis."    • 

Alongside  of  Holtzmann,  and  in  a  sense  deriving 
from  him,  we  must  place  Ritschl  ^^  as  emphasizing 
the  value  of  the  historical  Jesus  as  presented  in  the 
synoptical  gospels.  That  Jesus  has  for  Christian 
experience  "the  religious  value  of  God"  is  a  funda- 
mental tenet  of  this  school  but  it  will  have  nothing 
to  say  to  the  miraculous;  in  fact  the  general  trend 
of  criticism  in  Germany  has  been  more  and  more 
unfavorable  to  admitting  the  supernatural  in  con- 
nection with  the  person  and  work  of  our  Lord. 
Scientific  theology  for  the  most  part  rejects  the 
apostolic  authorship  of  the  fourth  gospel  which  is 
the  most  uncompromising  in  its  insistence  upon  the 
supernatural  dignity  of  Jesus;  and  the  foremost 
exponent  of  New  Testament  theology  in  Germany 
at  the  present  day,  and  in  some  respects  the  sanest 
and  most  conservative,  Adolf  von  Harnack,^^  is  no 

1^  Essentially  a  systematic  theologian  rather  than  critic.  His  great 
work  on  justification  has  given  rise  to  a  vast  literature. 

i'^  Perhaps  the  greatest  living  authority  on  Ante-Necene  Christian- 
ity. Of  late  years  has  moved  to  a  more  conservative  position  in 
N.  T.  criticism.  His  What  Is  Christianity  f  leaves  little  room  for 
the  supernatural  in  religion.     Luke  the  Physician  and  Sayings  of 

44 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

more  disposed  to  speak  of  Jesus  as  a  supernatural 
being  than  are  the  most  radical  of  his  contempo- 
raries. 

Last  comes  the  eschatological  school"  which, 
while  admitting  the  historicity  of  the  person  of 
Jesus  and  of  the  main  outHne  of  His  career  as  set 
forth  in  the  first  three  gospels,  reduces  Him  to  the 
status  of  a  deluded  visionary,  if  not  a  sheer  mad- 
man.  In  this  view  Jesus  is  represented  as  influenced 
by  current  apocalyptic  conceptions  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  come  in  time  to  persuade  Himself  that  He  was 
the  long  expected  Man  from  heaven  variously  de- 
scribed in  such  writings  as  the  Similitudes  of  Enoch, 
and  that  His  work  on  earth  was  in  some  wise  to  in- 
augurate the  entirely  new  order  of  dispensation 
which  He,  in  common  with  many  of  His  contempor- 
aries of  His  own  race,  believed  to  be  imminent  and 
catastrophic  in  character.  He  had  no  other  message, 
said  nothing  really  original,  had  little  or  no  interest 
in  the  improvement  of  existing  temporal  conditions, 
and  was  astounded  when  the  consummation  He  an- 
nounced did  not  take  place  according  to  program. 
He  perished  a  martyr  to  His  own  dreams  which 
never  had  any  basis  in  reality,  but  the  cult  He  cre- 
ated went  on,  gradually  transforming  its  outlook 
with  the  postponement  of  the  hope  of  His  speedy 
return  to  put  everything  right  for  mankind  at  a 
stroke. 

Now  while  it  is  too  much  to  say  that  the  eschato- 

Jcsus  vindicate  the  third  evangelist  and  his  value  as  a  first-hand 
authority,  but  the  latter  does  not  allow  enough  for  the  possibility 
that  Mark  may  have  known  a  version  of  the  Say'mgs. 

18  Schweitzer :    Quesi  of  the  Historical  Jesus.    The  chief  expo- 
nent. 

45 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

logical  school  has  already  been  discounted  or  has 
failed  to  make  out  a  case  for  its  point  of  view,  it 
is  undoubtedly  true  that  Jesus  as  thus  interpreted 
becomes  incoherent  and  fails  to  relate  Himself 
to  the  religious  consciousness  of  any  age.  There 
was,  as  we  shall  see,  an  important  sense  in  which 
the  eschatological  element  in  His  utterances  still 
remains  of  indispensable  value,  but  it  is  quite 
absurd  to  suppose  that  it  constitutes  in  itself  the 
whole  sum  and  substance  of  the  words  and  work 
of  Jesus.  It  is  incredible  that  one  whose  name  has 
bulked  so  large  in  the  spiritual  history  of  the  race 
should  have  had  no  better  title  to  His  eminence 
than  that  of  making  a  tragic  blunder  at  the  outset, 
assuming  a  grandiose  function  which  had  no  basis 
save  in  His  own  imagination,  and  declaring  there- 
with an  impending  collapse  of  the  world-order 
which  has  not  yet  taken  place  and  shows  no  like- 
lihood of  ever  taking  place  in  terms  of  His  pre- 
diction. The  personality  of  Jesus  must  have  pos- 
sessed a  greater  significance  than  is  thus  evinced 
or  we  should  never  have  heard  of  it.  There  must 
be  some  proportion  between  His  achievements  and 
that  which  gave  them  birth.  A  great  religious 
movement  is  not  initiated  and  sustained  for  nineteen 
centuries  on  a  tragic  disillusionment.  The  eschato- 
logical bearings  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  must  there- 
fore receive  its  due  emphasis  and  no  more;  it  must 
not  usurp  the  whole  field  of  vision.  It  is  curious  to 
note  that  the  very  rationalistic  type  of  mind  which 
refuses  credence  to  the  miraculous  aspects  of  the 
Gospel  story  should  be  ready  to  affirm  that  the  Gos- 

46 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

pel  itself  arose  out  of  the  obstinate  belief  of  a  crazy 
wandering  preacher  and  the  group  of  followers  He 
had  gathered  round  Him  in  the  most  fantastic  and 
stupendous  miracle  ever  conceived  by  human  brain. 
This  is  to  strain  at  a  gnat  and  swallow  a  camel 
with  a  vengeance.  If  people  in  any  number  were 
prepared  to  hold  with  such  intensity  to  an  expecta- 
tion which  involved  the  speedy  and  overwhelming 
destruction  of  the  state  of  things  which  still  con- 
tinues, surely  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  conclude 
that  they  would  be  susceptible  to  the  presence  of 
the  supernormal  in  their  ordinary  way  of  life  and 
would  generate  the  kind  of  mental  atmosphere 
wherein  what  are  commonly  termed  miracles  could 
most  readily  take  place  or,  to  say  the  least,  more 
readily  than  with  us. 

Importance  of  Apocalyptic 

We  cannot  understand  the  New  Testament  with- 
out obtaining  some  idea  of  the  mentality  of  con- 
temporary apocalyptic  literature,  the  literature 
which  fills  the  gap  between  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment religion  and  mode  of  thought.^^  No  one  can 
avoid  seeing  that  this  gap  exists,  and  the  only  ques- 
tion that  admits  of  much  discussion  in  regard  thereto 
is  what  best  fills  it.  We  want  to  know  what  people 
of  serious  religious  mind,  belonging  to  the  race  that 
gave  us  the  Old  Testament,  and  especially  the  peo- 

^^  Charles :  Religious  Development  between  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments. Burkitt:  Jezvish  and  Christian  Apocalypses.  Both  of 
these  distinguished  scholars  are  inclined  to  attribute  a  little  too  much 
to  the  influence  of  Apocalyptic  on  the  content  of  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  but  their  pioneer  work  has  shed  a  flood  of  light  on  a  hitherto 
obscure  field. 

47 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

pie  inhabiting  the  land  where  Jesus  was  born  and 
brought  up,  were  thinking  and  feeling  in  the  few 
generations  intervening  between  the  formation  of 
the  Old  Testament  Canon  and  the  appearance  of 
the  New  Testament  writings;  and  the  answer  is 
supplied  to  a  considerable  extent  by  what  we  have 
been  able  to  learn  of  certain  remarkable  literary 
productions,  more  or  less  of  the  character  of  the 
book  of  Daniel  on  the  one  hand  and  that  of  Reve- 
lation on  the  other,  all  possessing  more  or  less  the 
same  features  and  general  outlook.  Here  we  have 
the  key  to  much  that  is  taken  for  granted  without 
explanation  in  the  New  Testament;  the  same  ideas 
and  symbols  are  drawn  upon,  and  much  the  same 
expectation  is  shown  concerning  ^;he  future.  The 
two  books  of  Enoch,  the  Syrian  and  Greek  Baruch, 
the  Sibylline  Oracles,  fourth  Ezra,  and  the  Assump- 
tion of  IMoses  constitute  part  of  what  was  probably 
a  very  much  larger  literature  and  illuminate  for  us 
much  that  would  otherwise  have  to  remain  obscure 
in  the  gospels.^"  Their  common  features  are  obvi- 
ous. They  are  all  written  in  the  same  oracular 
style;  they  dwell  upon  the  supernatural  as  con- 
trasted with  the  natural  order,  and  look  forward  to 
a  crisis  which  is  to  come  suddenly  when  the  latter 
will  be  invaded  and  reconstituted  by  the  former. 
There  is  to  be  a  great  upheaval,  a  series  of  funda- 
mental cosmic  changes,  and  a  new  beginning  on 
better  and  purer  lines.     This  is  the  main  interest 

=0  Such  writings  as  the  Psalms  of  Solomon  and  the  Testaments  of 
the  Twelve  Patriarchs  are  also  valuable  and  illuminating,  but  their 
general  standpoint  is  different  from  that  of  the  above-mentioned. 
Vide  excellent  S.P.C.K.  series. 


PRINCIPAL   SOURCES 

of  the  writers ;  they  have  much  to  say  about  the  two 
ages  of  dispensations — the  present  and  the  better 
one  to  follow — and  their  hopes  are  fixed  upon  the 
imminence  of  the  latter.  They  believe  in  the 
struggle  of  good  and  evil  powers  which  is  to  pre- 
cede the  grand  consummation,  and  have  much  to 
say  about  Antichrist,  a  personification  of  the  forces 
of  evil,  who  appears  again  and  again  in  their  pages. 
Generally  speaking  they  take  a  larger  world  view 
than  that  of  Jewish  nationalism;  it  is  the  whole  hu- 
man race,  and  not  the  Jews  only,  who  enter  into 
the  scheme  of  their  anticipations  and  are  to  be 
blessed  by  the  fulfillment  of  the  promises  made 
through  Jewish  religion,  especially  as  concentrated 
in  the  person  of  the  Messiah.  It  is  hard  to  deter- 
mine who  the  INIessiah  is  to  these  dreamers  of  a 
distant  past.  There  is  no  consistency  in  the  pictures 
of  Him  presented  in  these  and  other  apocalypses 
save  that  He  is  regarded  in  all  of  them  as  the  hope 
of  the  world.  Sometimes  He  is  presented  as 
simply  an  historic  human  figure,  a  man  chosen  for 
the  great  work  of  acting  as  God's  vicegerent  on 
earth  and  ushering  in  the  heavenly  kingdom ;  some- 
times He  is  as  plainly  superhuman  and  belongs  to 
a  higher  than  the  temporal  order  of  tilings,  though 
His  relation  to  God  is  nowhere  defined. 


CHAPTER  III 

CONDITIONS  IN  THE  TIME  OF  JESUS 

Religion  and  Race 

There  is  not  much  that  needs  to  be  said  In  addi- 
tion to  what  has  ab-eady  been  stated  about  the 
preparation  in  history  for  the  advent  of  the  greatest 
personal  force  that  has  ever  come  into  the  v^^orld. 
No  race  but  one  could  have  produced  Jesus;  in  no 
other  could  He  have  found  a  spiritual  setting;  sal- 
vation was  indeed  of  the  Jews.  Here  was  a  nation 
whose  specialty  was  religion  and  distinguished  in 
no  other  direction — a  small  people  inliabiting  a 
small  territory  but  preserved  from  the  extinction 
which  overtook  surrounding  and  far  more  powerful 
empires  and  civilizations  by  the  very  intensity  with 
which  they  held  to  their  traditional  faith.  Political 
greatness  was  denied  them;  they  contributed  little 
to  art  and  science;  they  produced  no  literature  ex- 
cept the  one  imperishable  record  of  their  relations 
with  God  known  as  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
commentaries  thereupon  which  have  come  down  to 
us.  Their  thought  and  life  were  saturated  through 
and  through  with  religious  feeling  and  a  conception 

50 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

of  duty  directly  derived  from  their  religious  con- 
victions. There  is  no  need  to  doubt  the  substantial 
truth  of  the  story  that  their  peculiarity  in  this  re- 
spect arose  from  the  conduct  of  a  remote  ancestor 
whose  conscience  revolted  against  human  sacrifices 
and  sensual  orgies  as  associated  with  the  practice 
of  religion,  and  that  in  obedience  to  the  divine  voice 
within  him  he  went  fortli  from  his  kindred  and  his 
father's  house,  "not  knowing  whither  he  went,"  in- 
tent only  upon  the  foundation  of  a  purer  form  of 
faith  based  on  moral  relations  with  the  inscrutable 
divine  power  that  made  and  sustains  heaven  and 
earth.  This  was  the  beginning  of  an  age-long 
process  whereby  a  peculiar  people  was  trained  and 
disciplined  to  be  the  repository  of  the  oracles  of 
God  to  mankind.  Who  can  question  it  who  has  an 
eye  for  the  manifestation  of  a  divine  purpose  in  hu- 
man affairs  ?  In  its  early  stages  Israelitish  religion, 
as  noted  above,  was  differentiated  from  that  of  sur- 
rounding peoples  mainly  by  its  ethical  note  and 
the  closeness  of  the  relationship  established  between 
the  worshipers  and  their  God.  Its  defeat  was  the 
tendency  of  the  worshipers  to  claim  for  Israel  a 
monopoly  of  the  divine  favor.  They  could  not 
easily  rise  above  the  assumption  that  the  descend- 
ants of  Abraham  were  God's  privileged  children 
in  a  sense  and  to  a  degree  which  no  others  could  ap- 
proach. Despite  the  efforts  of  the  men  of  vision 
who  arose  in  their  midst  from  time  to  time — most 
of  all  perhaps  the  second  Isaiah — they  largely 
failed  to  see  that  their  peculiar  eminence  in  the 
world,  their  spiritual  vocation,  consisted  in  the  wit- 

51 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

ness  they  had  to  bear  to  the  unity  of  the  divine 
being  and  that  He  was  to  be  worshiped  in  right- 
eousness or  not  at  all.  Their  very  sufferings  con- 
tributed to  fitting  them  for  this  function,  for  no 
race  has  suffered  more;  they  have  been  oppressed 
and  afflicted,  despised,  persecuted,  and  scattered 
over  the  face  of  the  earth,  but  nowhere  have  they 
gone  without  carrying  this  message  with  them  as 
part  of  their  very  being:  God  is  one,  and  God  is 
just. 

When  we  remember  also  the  vicissitudes  to  which 
Israel  had  been  exposed  in  its  long  history — or, 
more  accurately,  that  remnant  of  Israel,  principally 
the  tribe  of  Judah,  which  still  preserved  a  sense  of 
national  identity  in  our  Lord's  time — we  can  but 
marvel  at  the  way  in  which  God  has  wrought.  This 
remnant  came  back  from  the  great  captivity  no 
longer  a  nation  but  a  church,  or  rather  a  church 
consisting  entirely  of  the  nation,  a  nation  henceforth 
subject  to  the  rule  of  a  foreign  power  and  soon  to 
be  deprived  even  of  its  own  sacred  soil  and  the 
spot  on  which  its  central  shrine  once  stood.  Yet 
from  that  barren  rock  whereon  Jerusalem  was  built 
a  stream  of  spiritual  influence  has  gone  forth  which 
has  blessed  every  other  nation  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  Judaism  has  given  birth  to  two  great  world 
religions,  Christianity  and  Mohammedanism,  and 
still  lives. 

It  was  into  a  community  with  this  already  ven- 
erable record  behind  it  that  Jesus  was  born.  Hu- 
manly speaking.  He  could  not  have  been  born  any- 
where else.    He  would  have  had  to  be  a  different 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

being  to  be  born  of  a  Greek  mother  and  in  Athens 
or  of  a  Roman  mother  and  in  Italy  or  Spain.  All 
the  impressive  spiritual  past  of  Israel  went  to  the 
making  of  His  himian  personality  and  the  mental 
atmosphere  in  which  His  work  was  done.  He  could 
start  from  a  certain  moral  and  religious  level  in 
addressing  His  own  countrymen  which  He  could 
not  have  presumed  in  any  other  part  of  the  world 
or  with  any  other  people;  His  message  could  have 
taken  root  on  no  other  soil  even  though  it  were 
quickly  to  be  transplanted  to  a  new  environment. 

Palestine  and  the  World-Empire 

On  the  other  hand  He  came  at  a  moment  when 
the  civilized  world  had  been  unified  under  the 
scepter  of  the  Roman  Caesars  and  lay  at  peace  under 
Roman  rule.  It  was  a  restless  peace,  a  peace  of 
domination  rather  than  of  good  will,  and  destined 
ere  long  to  be  broken  and  pass  into  confusion  and 
dismay.  The  advent  of  Jesus  was  the  death-knell 
of  the  old  world-order  and  the  beginning  of  a  new 
which  has  not  yet  reached  its  zenith ;  Csesarism  was 
not  mistaken  in  descerning  in  Christianity  its  deadly 
and  unrelenting  foe.  But  there  had  been  no  time 
before,  and  there  never  has  been  a  time  since, 
wherein  the  world  was  quite  so  ready  and  ripe  for 
a  universal  religion.  It  was  the  golden  moment 
in  the  divine  order. 

It  is  hard  to  say  just  what  the  condition  of  Pal- 
estine was  then.  That  it  had  been  extensively 
Hellenized   and   Romanized  would   be   inevitable, 

53 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

just  as  the  British  occupation  has  set  a  deep  mark 
upon  the  hfe  of  India  and  Egypt  to-day,  yet  there 
is  no  evidence  in  the  words  of  Jesus  of  His  being 
greatly  influenced  by  Greek  or  Roman  modes  of 
thought  or  speech.  Not  one  single  reference  does 
He  make  to  the  characteristic  features,  architec- 
tural, literary,  or  philosophic,  of  the  vast  and  com- 
plex civilization  into  whose  orbit  Israel  had  now 
been  drawn.  But  it  would  be  impossible  for  Him 
to  remain  wholly  unaffected  by  the  Gentile  forces 
which  had  everywhere  penetrated  Jewish  society 
and  by  the  fact  that  Greek-speaking  cities  had 
sprung  up  at  various  points  on  Palestinian  soil.^ 
Galilee  especially  was  saturated  with  Greek  ideas 
and  modes  of  living,  and  contained  many  populous 
Greek  centers ;  it  was  prosperous  and  cultivated  to 
a  degi'ee  almost  unimaginable  at  the  present  day 
after  its  exposure  to  centuries  of  Turkish  misrule. 
Renan  may  not  be  far  wrong  in  describing  it  as  at 
that  time  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  beautiful 
countries  in  the  world. 

Judea  was  different.  Its  inhabitants  were 
fiercer,  more  turbulent  and  fanatical  than  the  Gali- 
leans and  more  resentful  of  Roman  rule.  They, 
together  with  the  Samaritans,  were  directly  gov- 
erned by  a  Roman  procurator  whereas  the  northern 
province  still  preserved  a  sort  of  autonomy  under 
a  local  prince  though  of  Edomite  instead  of  Israel- 
itish  race.    There  was  no  friendship  between  Jews 

"*  Vide  'Rendel  Harris :  Sidelights  on  New  Testament  Research — 
concluding  chapter,  "Relation  of  Christianity  to  the  Greek  World"_ — 
for  an  interesting  discussion  of  the  indebtedness  of  apostoli*  Chris- 
tians to  Greek  ideas. 

54 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

and  Samaritans,  and  this  fact  operated  with  special 
discomfort  at  national  festivals  when  pilgrims  from 
Galilee  had  to  pass  through  Samaria  in  order  to 
get  to  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  unless  they  were 
willing  to  go  by  the  longer  and  more  dangerous 
route  through  Perea.  The  Samaritans  were  a 
mixed  race,  partly  Jewish  and  partly  foreign.  They 
had  become  paganized  during  the  great  captivity, 
and  on  the  return  of  the  exiles  under  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  they  were  in  consequence  debarred  from 
a  share  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple,  a  slight 
which  they  never  forgave.  They  established  a 
shrine  of  their  own  on  Mount  Gerizim,  and  on  the 
whole  their  religious  system  approximated  with 
some  closeness  to  the  Jewish,  notwithstanding  the 
repeated  accusation  that  they  were  idolaters.  They 
based  their  observances  on  the  Pentateuch,  prac- 
ticed circumcision,  and  kept  the  feasts  of  Taber- 
nacles, the  Passover  and  Pentecost.  The  bitterness 
of  the  feud  between  them  and  the  Jews  was  at  its 
height  in  our  Lord's  time  and  often  led  to  the 
shedding  of  blood.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  name 
Samaritan  should  be  extended  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  whole  district  bearing  that  name;  it  is  more 
likely  that  only  the  sect  which  worshipped  at  JMount 
Gerizim  was  designated  thereby.  There  is  no  rea- 
son to  believe  that  the  people  of  Samaria  were 
either  more  or  less  of  mixed  origin  than  were  the 
Galileans  but  the  latter  were  strictly  loyal  to  the 
religious  system  which  centered  in  the  Jewish 
Temple.  The  Jews  proper  regarded  the  Galileans 
half-contemptuously  as  rustics  speaking  a  peculiar 

55 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

dialect.  These  appear  to  have  heen  far  more  com- 
pletely Hellenized  than  either  Jews  or  Samaritans, 
much  more  tolerant  of  foreign  ways  and,  like  most 
of  the  Welsh  to-day,  bilingual.  Indeed  the  differ- 
ence of  temper  between  Galileans  and  Jews  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  contrast  in  the  respective  attitudes 
of  Welsh  and  Irish  towards  the  dominant  English 
race.  That  Jews  should  admit  Galileans  to  the 
fellowship  of  the  Temple  ordinances  is  one  sign 
that  Jewish  religion  was  not  so  exclusive  as  is  often 
supposed;  in  fact  it  was  at  this  time  to  no  small 
extent  a  proselytizing  religion  and  might  have  be- 
come a  world  religion  had  it  been  content  to  cut 
itself  free  from  legal  obligations  which  weighed 
heavily  upon  converts  of  Gentile  race  as  St.  Paul 
and  others  were  wise  enough  to  see  later  in  the  case 
of  Christianity.^ 

Judaism  during  this  whole  period  may  be  de- 
scribed as  a  somewhat  arid  deism,  tempered  by  the 
close  personal  and  ethical  relation  in  which  the  Jew 
was  supposed  to  stand  to  God.  Its  gi'catest  draw- 
back was  its  slavish  allegiance  to  the  letter  of  the 
Mosaic  Law  which  had  now  become  a  minutely 
elaborate  and  cumbersome  system  as  interpreted  by 
successive  generations  of  authoritative  commentat- 
ors. Righteousness  was  looked  upon  as  identical 
with  keeping  the  Law  and  unrighteousness  as  fail- 
ing to  do  this,  with  the  sad  result  that  formalism 
had  largely  taken  the  place  of  true  godliness  and 
men's  consciences  were  sophisticated  by  the  con- 

2  Illustrated  in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  contest  with  Ju- 
daizers,  including  even  Peter  for  a  time.  Cf.  latter's  vision  before 
visit  to  Cornelius,  Acts  x. 

6S 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

fusion  existing  between  simple  goodness  and  mere 
ritual  precepts. 

Religious  Parties 


Of  the  various  types  of  religious  profession  men- 
tioned in  the  New  Testament  the  Pharisees  are  the 
most  prominent.  The  name  means  separatist,  and 
the  sect  or  party  took  its  origin  from  the  historic 
struggle  of  the  Jews  to  maintain  their  nationality 
and  their  ancient  faith  against  the  eiforts  of  their 
Syro-Greek  masters  to  destroy  both.^  In  a  sense 
they  were  the  Nonconformists  of  their  age  and  had 
a  similar  honorable  record  of  stiff-backed  resistance 
to  persecution  and  civil  tyranny.  Their  great 
strength  lay  in  the  local  synagogues  as  distinct 
from  the  Temple,  and  great  as  was  their  influence 
with  the  Jewish  people  at  large  it  is  doubtful  if 
they  were  ever  very  numerous  owing  to  the  strict- 
ness of  the  standard  they  maintained.  They  laid 
the  fullest  stress  upon  the  duty  of  rendering  obedi- 
ence to  the  Law  in  all  its  details.  They  prided 
themselves  on  doing  this  and  held  in  contempt  all 
who  did  not  imitate  their  zeal.  They  studied  noth- 
ing but  the  Law  and  regarded  any  other  form  of 
culture  as  unworthy  the  attention  of  a  son  of  Abra- 
ham. Exclusive  in  the  last  degree  in  their  religious 
outlook  they  were  nevertheless  eager  to  win  ad- 
herents to  their  cause  even  from  Gentile  sources,  a 
somewhat  surprising  fact;  but  their  system  was  as 
simple  as  it  was  rigid  in  this  respect:  the  Gentile 

3  B.  C.  170  to  140. 

57 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

convert  must  become  a  Jew.  They  insisted  upon 
circumcision  or  its  equivalent,  and  a  form  of  bap- 
tism appears  to  have  been  usual  for  the  admission 
of  a  Gentile  into  the  fellowship  of  Judaism. 

The  officials  of  the  Temple,  drawn  mainly  from 
a  few  aristocratic  priestly  families,  were  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  Pharisees  both  in  ideals  and  out- 
look. The  centralization  of  national  worship  in 
the  Temple  had  had  the  effect  of  accustoming  the 
people  to  frequent  the  local  synagogues  for  prayer 
and  instruction  and  only  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  for 
the  greater  feasts.  The  result  was  that  the  hier- 
archy dominated  the  situation  in  Jerusalem  and  the 
Pharisees  elsewhere.  The  prominent  figure  in  the 
synagogue  was  the  scribe  or  doctor^of  the  Law,  the 
professional  theologian  who  was  supposed  to  be  an 
expert  commentator  upon  the  sacred  text.  Nat- 
urally these  were  held  in  high  honor,  especially  by 
the  Pharisees  whose  role  it  was  to  inculcate  the 
utmost  reverence  for  the  Law.  Many  scribes  were 
Pharisees  but  not  all  Pharisees  were  scribes.  Some 
of  the  scribes  may  have  belonged  to  the  priestly 
party  called  Sadducees,  for  originally,  as  the  name 
implies,  the  principal  function  of  the  scribes  was  to 
make  and  preserve  copies  of  the  Law,  and  the  duty 
of  interpreting  the  Law  was  left  mainly  to  the 
priests ;  but  the  very  necessities  of  the  case  as  cre- 
ated by  the  centralization  of  worship  in  one  national 
temple  extended  the  scope  of  the  powers  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  scribes.  It  is  likely  enough 
therefore  that  there  may  have  been  Sadducean 
scribes  as  well  as  Pharisaic.     There  were  different 

58 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

schools  of  the  scribes  just  as  there  are  different 
schools  of  the  theologians  of  to-day.  The  school  of 
Hillel,  for  example,  represented  a  more  liberal  tra- 
dition than  the  rival  school  of  Shammai,  hence  the 
saying:  "The  law  of  Hillel  loosens;  the  law  of 
Shammai  binds."  But  all  parties  among  the 
scribes,  like  all  the  Pharisees,  laid  great  stress  upon 
oral  tradition  in  interpreting  the  Law.  The  Law 
by  this  time  had  become  a  system  so  intricate,  com- 
plex, and  artificial  that  no  one  could  really  keep 
it  in  its  entirety,  and,  as  the  gospel  narrative  shows, 
Jesus  came  into  sharp  conflict  with  the  views  of  the 
Pharisaic  party  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  dis- 
tinctions they  made  between  what  was  accounted 
meritorious  in  act  and  what  was  not.  A  burden- 
some series  of  ritual  observances  had  usurped  the 
place  of  true  and  simple  piety  and  stifled  the  soul 
of  religion.  There  was  no  spontaneity  about  it, 
no  clear  discrimination  of  ethical  values,  no  free- 
dom and  freshness  of  spiritual  life. 

Nevertheless  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  assume,  as 
is  so  often  done,  that  tlie  Pharisees  were  all 
hj^pocrites  or  that  the  nation  viewed  them  with  in- 
difference or  contempt.  As  ]Mr.  IMontefiore  has 
shown,^  they  were  held  in  esteem  by  the  populace 
who  regarded  them  as  examples  of  godliness  and 
proper  religious  deportment.^  For  the  most  part 
they  kept  out  of  politics,  though  their  sympathies 
were  with  the  national  aspiration  for  independence, 

*  Synoptical  Gospels,  Introd.  34. 

5  Yet  the  Baptist  denounced  them  as  scathingly  as  Jesus,  a  fact 
which  shows  that  their  pretensions  were  not  universally  accepted  at 
their  face  value. 

59 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

and  there  must  have  been  many  individuals  among 
them  of  exemplary  holiness  of  life ;  their  reputation 
in  this  respect  could  not  have  been  wholly  unde- 
served. It  is  definitely  stated  in  the  gospels  that 
although  the  party  as  a  whole  was  opposed  to 
Jesus  there  were  some  Pharisees  among  His  fol- 
lowers. Nicodemus  may  have  been  a  Pharisee,  as 
certainly  he  was  a  person  of  special  prominence  in 
the  Sanhedrin.  Joseph  of  Arimathfea  may  have 
been  another.  There  may  have  been  some  priests 
who  adhered  to  the  new  teacher  also ;  Simeon  could 
scarcely  have  been  the  only  one  to  perceive  in  the 
child  or  man  Jesus  the  hope  of  Israel. 

The  Pharisees  had  their  own  idea  of  Messiah- 
ship,  and  we  may  assume  that  in  the  main  it  was 
that  of  the  people  at  large.  They  did  not  think 
of  the  Messiah  as  a  sin-bearer  or  perhaps  a  super- 
natural person  at  all  but  only  as  the  deliverer  of 
Israel  and  the  restorer  of  the  ancient  kingdom, 
henceforth  to  be  called  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
party  of  the  Zealots,  Pharisaic  in  origin,  differed 
from  the  main  body  in  being  ready  to  use  violence 
to  shake  off  the  Roman  yoke;  they  were  the  Sinn 
Feiners  of  their  time  and  race ;  yet  one  of  these  was 
included  in  the  apostolic  band.  It  is  not  clear  how 
far  the  Pharisees  cherished  a  really  definite  Messi- 
anic hope;  what  they  certainly  did  cherish  was  the 
hope  of  a  reconstituted  national  life  with  world- 
wide consideration  for  the  Jewish  Law;  they  were 
indefatigable  propagandists. 

The  Sadducees  on  the  other  hand  partook  of  the 
characteristics  of  the   priestly   order   from   which 

60 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

they  mainly  derived.^  The  priests  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  Pharisees  had  generally  been  willing  to 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  secular  rule  of  the 
period  whatever  it  might  be.  They  were  a  worldly- 
minded  and  exclusive  caste,  jealous  of  their  privi- 
leges and  unscrupulous  in  exercising  them.  The 
priestly  order  was  aristocratic  and  hereditary,  and 
there  were  as  many  grades  therein  as  of  Ro- 
man Catholic  clergy  at  the  present  day.  They 
were  as  cosmopolitan  in  outlook  as  the  Phari- 
sees were  intensely  national,  and  to  maintain  their 
own  position  had  more  than  once  shown  themselves 
ready  to  assimilate  the  national  religion  to  foreign 
models  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of  the  ruler 
of  the  moment ;  they  are  even  accused,  not  without 
some  justification,  of  carrying  their  Hellenistic 
sympathies  so  far  as  to  be  willing  to  substitute  the 
name  of  Zeus  for  that  of  Yahweh  in  the  Temple 
devotions.  No  one  but  a  scion  of  one  of  the  priestly 
families  could  be  a  member  of  the  party  of  the  Sad- 
ducees.  Like  the  Pliarisees  the  Sadducees  pro- 
fessed adherence  to  the  Law  but  were  not  so  scrupu- 
lous in  keeping  it,  nor  could  they  admit  the  addi- 
tion of  anything  to  it;  they  utterly  rejected  the  un- 
written traditions  of  which  the  Pharisees  made  so 
much.  They  were  somewhat  agnostic  and  mate- 
rialistic in  temper,  would  have  nothing  to  say  to 
aught  that  threatened  their  own  official  interests 
such  as  plots  against  the  Roman  power,  and  were 

^  The  derivation  of  the  name  is  not  absolutely  certain,  but  it  may 
be  equivalent  to  Zadokites  or  followers  of  Zadok,  a  teacher  sup- 
posed to  be  a  literalist  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Law,  rejecting  the 
oral  traditions  added  thereto  by  the  Pharisees. 

61 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

largely  cynical  and  time-serving  in  their  methods 
of  addressing  themselves  to  the  problems  of  the  day. 
Hence  when  they  united  with  the  Pharisees  to  get 
rid  of  Jesus  they  did  so  from  a  different  point  of 
view.  They  had  no  fervor  of  devotion,  and  disbe- 
lieved in  personal  immortality,  resurrection,  and  a 
future  state,  though  there  is  no  evidence  that  they 
doubted  the  existence  of  God.  Jesus  does  not  seem 
to  have  drawn  any  of  His  adherents  from  among 
the  Sadducees.  They  had  great  influence  in  the 
Sanhedrin,  which  was  the  supreme  council  of  the 
nation  under  the  Roman  power,  an  influence  out  of 
all  proportion  to  their  actual  numbers,  and  it  was 
owing  chiefly  to  their  antagonism  that  Jesus  was 
put  to  death;  the  Pharisees  alone-  could  not  have 
accomplished  this  end. 

In  addition  to  these  two  parties  whose  names  ap- 
pear so  frequently  in  the  New  Testament,  there 
was  a  third  which  is  not  mentioned  at  all,  that  of 
the  Essenes.'^  Not  very  much  is  known  of  this  pe- 
culiar sect  but  enough  to  make  us  wish  to  know 
more.  There  is  no  evidence  that  Jesus  belonged 
to  it  or  knew  anything  about  it,  or  that  it  had  any 
great  influence  on  early  Christianity.  Its  numbers 
could  never  have  been  large  nor  is  it  clear  how  far 
they  were  able  to  influence  their  contemporaries. 
They  were  an  ascetic  community  organized  very 
much  in  the  manner  of  the  monastic  orders  with 
which  Christianity  has  familiarized  us.  Its  mem- 
bers lived  under  a  strict  rule,  observing  apparently 
the  vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience  which 

■^  Vide  Josephus :   Wars  of  the  Jews,  II.  8. 

62 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

distinguish  monastic  communities  in  general.  They 
had  all  their  possessions  in  common  and  lived  a 
simple  and  industrious  life  whose  main  object  was 
the  practice  of  piety.  As  those  admitted  to  the 
order  were  under  oath  not  to  reveal  what  took  place 
within  it  we  cannot  be  sure  of  the  view  they  took 
of  the  relations  of  the  soul  with  God,  but  as  they 
reverenced  the  Jewish  Law  we  may  assume  that 
they  were  monotheists.  On  the  other  hand  as  they 
were  excommunicated  from  all  association  with  the 
Temple  it  is  evident  that  their  monotheism  was  sus- 
pect, and  indeed  there  are  some  indications  of  an 
admixture  of  Persian  dualism  with  their  beliefs  and 
of  something  akin  to  sun-worship.* 

State  of  the  People 

As  over  against  these  comparatively  small  re- 
ligious parties  we  have  the  great  bulk  of  the  people 
who  belonged  to  none  of  them.  What  of  these? 
We  have  seen  that  Palestine  possessed  a  measure  of 
self-government  under  Roman  suzerainty,  the  south 
being  directly  administered  bj^  a  Roman  procurator 
and  the  north  and  east  by  local  princes.  For  all 
ordinary  affairs,  civil  and  religious,  the  Sanhedrin 
was  the  supreme  Judean  court  and  preserved  in  its 
forms  and  composition  a  purely  national  character. 
How  far  it  could  really  exercise  jurisdiction  it  is 

^  F.  C.  Conybeare  (Article  on  Essenes  in  Hastings  Dictionary  of 
the  Bible)  thinks  Josephus  reliable  in  the  information  he  gives  con- 
cerning this  sect ;  but  Josephus  is  not  always  reliable :  and  it  is  an 
arresting  fact  that  the  Essenes  are  not  censured  in  the  gospels  as  the 
other  religious  parties  are. 

63 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

impossible  to  say;  probably  the  Roman  autbority 
took  care  to  defer  to  it  while  retaining  the  right 
to  override  its  decisions  or  anticipate  them  as  might 
be  expedient.  As  is  illustrated  in  the  case  of  Jesus 
the  Sanhedrin  had  no  power  to  pronounce  sentence 
of  death  and  the  Roman  procurator's  word  could 
have  saved  Him  had  that  word  been  spoken. 

How  the  people  thought  and  felt  about  their  re- 
ligion we  can  only  infer  from  their  conduct.  It  is 
stated  in  the  gospels  that  the  Pharisees  despised  all 
who  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  maintain  their  own 
strict  legalistic  standards  of  pietj^  but  it  is  not 
equally  certain  that  these  in  their  turn  despised  the 
Pharisees;  in  fact  so  far  as  we  can  judge  the  Phari- 
sees were  more  popular  than  the  priests.  There 
was  little  if  any  religious  indifference.  The  class 
of  "sinners" — that  is  of  persons  who  for  one  cause 
or  another  failed  in  paj^ing  outward  respect  to  the 
observances  of  the  Law  though  not  necessarily  of 
immoral  life — must  have  been  comparatively  small.^ 
Those  of  flagrantly  vicious  conduct  would  be  fewer 
still,  but  all  who  were  excluded  from  the  synagogue, 
and  therefore  from  ordinary  social  intercourse,  were 
lumped  together  under  the  one  designation,  sinners. 
This  categorj'-  also  included  the  body  of  men  who 
farmed  the  revenues  and  collected  the  tribute  for 
the  Roman  government.  These  publicans,  as  the 
New  Testament  styles  them,  were  held  in  detesta- 
tion as  is  easy  to  understand.  They  often  waxed 
rich  upon  their  profits  so  unpatriotically  acquired, 
but  that  fact  did  not  procure  for  them  any  consid- 

®Montefiore:   Synoptical  Gospels,  Introd.  34. 

64 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

eration  or  respect;  they  were  outsiders,  and  out- 
siders they  had  to  remain. 

Professor  Glover  thinks  the  Jewish  people  were 
probably  much  disheartened  by  their  long  subjec- 
tion to  foreign  masters  and  by  the  little  comfort, 
which  their  religion  brought  them,  and  this  may  be 
true  though  there  is  not  much  direct  evidence  of 
it/"  It  would  rather  appear  that  then,  as  now,  the 
burden  of  life  pressed  heavily  upon  the  poorer 
classes  and  that  the  conditions  of  their  lot  were 
such  as  to  produce  in  them  a  certain  dullness  of 
mind,  a  sordid  apathy,  an  obtuseness  to  all  appeals 
to  their  finer  sensibilities.  But  they  were  more  re- 
ligious than  now;  everybody,  or  nearly  everybody, 
was  religious  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  people 
loved  the  synagogue  and  the  Temple  as  symbols 
of  their  national  identity  and  unique  spiritual  in- 
heritance, and  they  clung  passionately  to  both. 
That  they  were  disappointed  with  the  nonrealiza- 
tion  of  the  high  hopes  entertained  by  their  fathers 
goes  without  saying,  but  one  of  the  most  pathetic 
as  well  as  almost  inexplicable  things  about  them  at 
this  time  is  the  intensity  with  which  they  went  on 
looking  for  a  deliverance  and  a  golden  age  which 
never  came.  This  at  least  is  written  in  unmistak- 
able characters  on  every  page  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  there  would  appear  to  have  been  a 
reawakening  of  it  at  or  near  the  moment  when 
Jesus  was  born,  why  we  do  not  know.  Certain  it 
is  that  the  Jews  chafed  under  their  subjection  to 
the  Roman  power  and  were  willing  to  revolt  almost 

^'^  Jesus  of  History. 

65 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

at  any  time ;  had  a  bold  leader  shown  himself  they 
would  have  responded  to  his  call  as  spontaneously 
as  their  fathers  had  responded  to  that  of  the  Macca- 
bees. In  fact  large  numbers  of  them  did  so  respond 
from  time  to  time  when  pseudo-Messiahs  appeared 
upon  the  scene,  and  these  local  insurrections  had  to 
be  strenuously  suppressed.  One  single  man  of  ge- 
nius might  have  changed  the  whole  face  of  affairs  as 
did  Mahomet  in  Arabia  six  hundred  years  later ;  as 
it  was,  all  that  happened  were  sporadic  risings  here 
and  there  under  the  leadership  of  guerrilla  chiefs. 
These  successive  ebullitions  of  the  national  spirit 
more  or  less  resemble  what  we  have  long  been  ac- 
customed to  in  Ireland — a  sullen,  consistent,  un- 
dying antagonism  to  the  foreign  imperial  power  and 
its  garrison,  shown  by  intermittent  outbreaks  cap- 
tained by  enthusiasts  such  as  Robert  Emmet,  Ed- 
ward Fitzgerald,  and  Smith  O'Brien.  And  the 
point  is  worth  making  that  Jesus  Himself  might 
have  been  proclaimed  the  hope  of  Israel  in  this  sense 
with  or  without  the  countenance  of  priests  and 
Pharisees,  and  there  are  indications  that  many 
wished  Him  to  do  so  and  would  have  given  Him 
support  in  the  enterprise.  But  priests  and  Phari- 
sees although  no  lovers  of  Roman  rule  were  not  as 
a  body  prepared  to  jeopardize  such  national  auton- 
omy as  they  still  possessed  by  committing  them- 
selves to  an  organized  rebellion  against  Rome. 
When  that  rebellion  finally  did  come  it  made  an 
end  of  Jewish  nationalistic  hopes. 

That  the  population  of  Palestine  was  not  wholly 
of  this  character  is  well  known.    It  also  contained 

66 


CONDITIONS  IN  TIME  OF  JESUS 

those  whom  we  should  now  call  saints,  spiritually- 
minded  men  and  women  whose  thoughts  were  cen- 
tered on  higher  things  than  mere  political  inde- 
pendence or  the  meticulous  observance  of  an  an- 
cient tradition.  There  are  some  hints  in  the  New 
Testament  that  little  groups  or  fraternities  of  these 
were  accustomed  to  meet  for  prayer  and  converse 
concerning  the  hope  of  Israel.  That  hope  as  we  see 
from  the  apocalyptic  literature  centered  on  the  ex- 
pectation that  God  would  somehow  intervene  to 
deliver  His  people  from  all  their  ills.  But  it  was 
not  enough  for  individuals  like  the  aged  Simeon 
and  Anna,  or  later  like  Nathanael  of  Cana  in  Gali- 
lee, that  the  kingdom  of  Israel  should  be  restored 
in  its  temporal  prosperity,  bvit  rather  that  Israel, 
and  through  Israel  the  world,  should  turn  to  God 
with  regenerate  heart  and  mind  and  seek  to  realize 
His  will  on  earth.  They  believed  in  the  new  age, 
the  new  dispensation  to  come,  as  earnestly  as  any 
patriot  of  the  time,  but  whereas  the  popular  view 
was  that  the  Jewish  people  would  be  supreme  in 
the  new  world-order  which  was  to  accompany  the 
change  whenever  it  might  come  to  pass,  the  saint 
thought  chiefly  of  the  universal  blessing  which  the 
Jew  was  to  be  privileged  to  bring  to  mankind.  We 
should  make  a  mistake  were  we  to  assume  that  either 
this  ideal  or  the  means  whereby  it  was  to  be  realized 
was  clearly  and  consistently  presented  to  the  mind 
of  the  time.  It  was  a  vague  but  deeply  cherished 
aspiration. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  GOSPELS,  CANONICAL  AND 
UNCANONICAL 

The  Earliest  Writing 

It  was  in  this  atmosphere  that  the  gospels  took 
their  rise  and  they  should  be  read  in  the  light  of  it. 
They  take  many  things  for  granted  in  contemporary 
history  and  the  mind  of  the  age  for  which  the  Old 
Testament  does  not  prepare  us — the  figure  of  the 
Messiah,  the  supernatural  character  of  the  King- 
dom that  was  yet  to  be  a  restoration  of  that  of 
David,  a  catastrophic  end  to  the  existing  order  fol- 
lowed by  a  resurrection  and  a  general  judgment. 
It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  survey  here  in  detail 
the  established  results  of  scholarship  with  regard 
to  the  origin  and  composition  of  the  gospels.  These 
results  are  easily  accessible  to  any  reader.  We  may 
assume  a  knowledge  of  their  more  salient  features 
as  we  proceed.  It  is  now  customary  to  speak  of 
Mark  as  the  oldest  and  to  make  it  the  basis  of  any 
attempt  at  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  doings  of 
Jesus,  but  this  is  an  assumption  which  can  only  be 

68 


THE    GOSPELS 

accepted  with  qualifications.  Mark  may  be  the  old- 
est as  a  literary  unit  but  there  is  a  stratum  in  Mat- 
thew and  Luke  and  even  in  John  of  perhaps  equal 
antiquity  and  certainly  of  equal  value  for  any  first- 
hand acquaintance  with  the  mind  of  Jesus.  The 
suggestion  is  worth  hazarding  that  the  oldest  part 
of  the  New  Testament  -vvritings  is  the  notes  of  our 
Lord's  discourses  taken  down  from  His  lips  by 
Matthew  the  publican  on  the  spot  where  they  were 
delivered.  There  are  also  a  few  extracanonical  say- 
ings of  Jesus  which  may  be  quite  genuine ;  it  stands 
to  reason  that  He  must  Have  said  a  great  deal  more 
than  is  fragmentarily  recorded  in  the  gospels  and 
may  have  repeated  Himself  on  occasion;  there  are 
signs  in  the  gospels  themselves  that  He  sometimes 
made  use  of  the  same  observations  in  different  con- 
nections. The  saying  quoted  in  Acts  xx.  35,  for 
instance,  was  evidently  well  known  in  the  apostolic 
Church — "it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive" ; 
and  it  bears  a  certain  resemblance  to  some  that  are 
preserved  by  the  evangelists — "freely  ye  have  re- 
ceived, freely  give";  "give  and  it  shall  be  given  unto 
you,"  etc. 

Perhaps  Matthew's  notes  constitute  the  Hebrew 
gospel  mentioned  by  Eusebius  on  the  authority  of 
Papias,^  but  if  so  they  could  not  have  been  identical 
with  the  present  gospel  which  bears  his  name.  By 
Hebrew  the  historian  must  have  meant  Aramaic, 
the  Syrian  dialect  spoken  in  Palestine  in  Jesus'  day 
and  most  likely  by  Jesus  Himself.  But  Greek  was 
the  literary  language ;  hence  the  gospels  as  we  have 

1  Htsf.,  ill.  39. 

69 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

them  now  were  written  in  Greek,  though  on  the 
whole  rather  rude  Greek,  the  Greek  of  unlearned 
provincials.  Did  Jesus  Himself  ever  speak  in 
Greek  ?  It  is  not  impossible  though  the  overwhelm- 
ing probability  is  that  His  mother  tongue  was 
Aramaic.  Still  it  is  likely  enough  that  He  could 
speak  Greek,  seeing  that  Galilee  was  so  extensively 
penetrated  by  Greek  influences;  the  gospels  them- 
selves are  evidence  that  Greek  was  the  most  widely 
used  literary  medium  of  communication  in  hither 
Asia  at  that  period.^  That  the  author  of  our 
canonical  Matthew  could  have  written  in  Hebrew 
had  he  so  chosen  is  evident  from  his  many  quota- 
tions from  the  Old  Testament  which  are  apparently 
taken  direct  from  the  Hebrew  original  and  not  from 
the  Greek  of  the  Septuagint.^ 

The  Gospel  of  Matthew 


Matthew  writes  for  Jewish  readers,*  as  Luke  for 
Gentile,  and  the  matter  in  the  first  gospel  is  care- 
fully selected  from  this  point  of  view.  His  object 
is  firstly  to  present  Jesus  as  the  Messiah  of  Jewish 
expectation  and  secondly  as  the  universal  Savior — 

*  And  as  we  now  learn  from  contemporary  Greek  letters  In  papyri 
unearthed  in  Egypt,  the  Greek  of  the  gospels  was  the  colloquial 
Greek  of  the  period  outside  Palestine  as  well  as  in  it. 

3  Or,  as  argued  by  some  authorities,  from  a  small  collection  of 
Testimonia  or  proof-texts  to  illustrate  the  view  that  the  Messiahship 
of  Jesus  was  the  true  fulfillment  of  Old  Testament  prophecy  on  the 
subject. 

*But  evidently  was  not  familiar  with  Jerusalem,  and  though  he 
knew  Palestine  well  may  have  been  resident  outside  it,  perhaps  in 
Alexandria.  Evangelist  and  apostle  can  hardly  have  been  the  same 
person  though  the  latter  may  quite  well  have  been  the  recorder  of 
the  collection  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  drawn  upon  by  both  the  first 
and  third  gospels. 

70 


THE    GOSPELS 

hence  the  large  number  of  quotations  which  are 
made  in  this  gospel  from  the  Jewish  scriptures,  the 
writer's  intention  being  to  show  that  Jesus  is  the 
true  fulfillment  of  Messianic  prophecy.  Some  of 
these  quotations  are  according  to  modern  standards 
rather  far-fetched  in  their  relation  to  the  subject  in 
hand,  and  they  are  not  always  exact ;  in  one  instance 
at  least  there  is  nothing  to  show  from  what  scrip- 
ture the  quotation  is  made — "He  shall  be  called  a 
Nazarene."  The  tone  of  this  gospel  is  hostile  to 
the  Pharisees,  which  is  readily  understandable  if 
the  author  be  really  Matthew  the  publican ;  he  must 
have  had  to  feel  the  bitter  scorn  of  the  Pharisees 
as  no  other  of  the  evangelists  would.  But  his  Jew- 
ish outlook  is  evident  in  many  ways  all  the  same. 
He  stresses  Jesus'  interest  in  the  Jews  as  a  people 
and  in  their  Law,  and  he  illustrates  freely  the  Mas- 
ter's familiarity  with  Jewish  custom.  The  matter  of 
the  gospel  is  assembled  in  five  groups  or  clusters  of 
subjects,  thereby  necessitating  some  divergence 
from  Mark  in  the  order  of  events;  where  this  is  so 
it  is  usually  safest  to  follow  3Iark — in  fact  Mat- 
thew himself  follows  Mark  except  as  suits  the  con- 
venience of  his  method.  But  he  shows  no  depend- 
ence upon  Mark  for  more  than  the  outline  of 
events ;  for  the  sayings  of  our  Lord  he  draws  upon 
another  source  with  which  in  a  somewhat  different 
form  St.  Luke  also  appears  to  have  been  acquainted. 
Was  this  source  the  notes  the  apostle  had  himself 
taken  in  Aramaic  referred  to  above  ?  It  is  at  least  a 
reasonable  hypothesis.  But  it  is  also  possible  that 
the  tradition  upon  which  both  evangelists  drew  was 

71 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

mainly  an  oral  one/  There  are  some  important  say- 
ings peculiar  to  Matthew,  such  as  the  beautiful  in- 
vitation, "Come  unto  me,"  etc.  Perhaps  the  author 
of  this  gospel  was  a  Jewish  Christian  who  derived 
his  principal  information  from  the  apostle  Matthew 
and  represents  the  tradition  of  the  Jewish-Christian 
church  rather  than  the  recollections  of  one  mind 
only.  The  gospel  would  appear  to  have  been  writ- 
ten at  or  near  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70  and 
it  contains  some  elements  which  point  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  author  and  those  for  whom  he  wrote 
expected  the  second  coming  of  Christ  to  take  place 
soon  after  that  great  and  tragical  event.  St.  Luke 
has  another  outlook  altogether. 

The  Gospel  of  Mark 


It  was  long  before  criticism  was  prepared  to  re- 
gard the  second  gospel  as  prior  to  the  rest  in  date, 
but  it  is  now  generally  conceded  that  this  gospel 
as  we  have  it  to-day  or  with  little  alteration  was 
known  to  the  writers  of  the  other  three  and  made 
use  of  by  them  in  preparing  theirs — to  some  extent 
corrected  or  modified  by  them  in  accordance  with 
their  several  standpoints.  It  is  rudely  written,  and 
without  conscious  art,  which  renders  it  the  more 
valuable  as  a  document  of  first-rate  importance  for 
an  understanding  of  the  subject  of  which  it  treats. 

«  There  are  strong  objections  to  this  theory,  however.  The  further 
suggestion  (C/.  von  Soden :  Early  Christian  Literature,  p.  140)  that 
Matthew  and  Luke  used  diflFerent  translations  of  one  original  Ara- 
maic collection  of  the  Sayings  does  not  solve  the  problem. 

72 


THE    GOSPELS 

It  is  not  quite  complete  in  its  present  form,  that 
part  of  the  end  being  lost  which  describes  the  events 
between  the  resurrection  and  the  day  of  Pentecost. 
The  last  twenty  verses  of  our  canonical  Mark  are 
a  compilation  from  the  others  by  a  later  hand.  If 
we  could  find  the  original,  as  some  day  we  may,  it 
would  possess  great  value  for  us  as  throwing  light 
upon  the  apparent  discrepancies  of  the  others  in 
relation  to  the  order  of  events  at  the  resurrection 
and  immediately  afterwards.  It  has  been  tradi- 
tionally  affirmed  to  be  in  substance  Peter's  gospel, 
that  is  Peter's  special  contribution  to  the  apostolic 
tradition  concerning  our  Lord's  ministry.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  written  at  Rome  bv  John  INIark  who 
was  associated  both  with  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 
Perhaps  the  Galilean  fisherman  did  not  possess 
the  art  of  writing  but  he  certanly  did  possess 
an  eye  for  picturesque  and  dramatic  detail.  The 
style  of  St.  Mark  is  just  what  we  might  expect  if 
a  personality  like  that  of  the  rugged  and  impulsive 
fisherman  who  was  afterwards  called  the  prince  of 
the  apostles  supplied  the  major  portion  of  its  con- 
tents. It  begins  with  Peter's  association  with  the 
work  of  Jesus  in  Galilee,  saying  nothing  about  any 
previous  meeting  in  Judea,  and  in  the  main  the 
scene  of  the  events  it  describes  is  the  northern  prov- 
ince wherein  was  Peter's  home.  The  third  and 
fourth  gospels  to  some  extent  rectify  this,  the  latter 
evidently  of  set  purpose,  and  give  us  details  of  a 
Judean  ministry  as  well.  The  second  gospel  never 
spares  Peter  himself  whereas  the  others  do,  which 
is  another  indication  of  its  Petrine  origin.    It  is  by 

73 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

far  the  most  vivid  and  human  of  the  four  in  the  de- 
scriptions of  the  activities  of  Jesus  and  what  befell 
Him.  Papias  (quoted  in  Eusebius'  Ecclesiastical 
History,  iii.  29)  says  that  the  matter  is  not  given 
in  chronological  order  but  consists  of  reproductions 
of  different  discourses  of  Peter  written  down  as  the 
disciple  remembered  them.  This  is  probably  true 
in  some  degree ;  the  gospels  are  not  chronologies  but 
brief  first-hand  statements  of  fact,  memoirs  of  in- 
cidents and  sayings  which  may  not  have  occurred 
precisely  in  the  order  displayed,  nor  would  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  exact  sequence  be  a  matter  of  first 
concern  with  the  authors.  But,  however  that  be, 
we  can  do  no  other  than  rely  upon  INIark's  presen- 
tation as  being  on  the  whole  the  nearest  in  point 
of  time  to  what  it  records.  When  difficulties  arise 
we  may  have  recourse  to  the  others  where  they  seem 
deliberately  to  have  deviated  from  his  narrative,  but 
this  outline  should  form  the  basis  of  any  attempt 
to  reconstruct  the  life  of  Jesus  from  the  few  ma- 
terials at  our  command. 

Mark  sees  no  necessity  to  tone  down  anything. 
He,  or  rather  Peter,  sets  down  in  a  rough  Greek 
dialect  his  intimate  recollections  of  Jesus  as  the 
disciples  saw  and  heard  Him  day  by  day.  He  is 
much  bolder  than  the  others  in  showing  us  the 
Master's  true  humanity — His  feelings  of  anger  and 
pain,  of  surprise  and  sadness,  of  loneliness  and 
dread.  The  evangelist  does  not  shrink  from  telling 
us  frankly  some  things  that  do  not  easily  fit  in  with 
the  dogmatic  view  of  Jesus'  person  and  self-knowl- 
edge.   And  yet  no  gospel  of  the  four  is  more  em- 

74 


THE    GOSPELS 

phatic  upon  the  superhuman  quality  of  Jesus'  na- 
ture ;  this  is  not  insisted  upon  but  rather  spontane- 
ously assumed  throughout  as  the  one  thing  that 
impressed  the  beholder  most.  It  is  not  Mark 
(Peter)  that  is  our  best  source  for  an  acquaintance 
with  the  teaching  of  Jesus;  it  is  what  the  Master 
did  rather  than  what  He  said  that  chiefly  interests 
the  second  evangelist.  Nevertheless  here  again 
what  he  does  record  is  of  inestimable  value;  some 
of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  Ws  recorded  in  Mark  are 
the  indispensable  key  to  similar  sayings  preserved 
by  the  others.^  And  with  the  exception  of  about 
thirty  verses  all  the  narrative  portion  of  Mark  ap- 
pears in  the  same  order  in  the  first  and  third  gos- 
pels, nearly  always  in  fuller  and  more  vivid  detail 
in  the  original  source. 

In  making  use  of  Mark,  Matthew  and  Luke  fre- 
quently improve  on  his  phrasing  from  a  literary 
point  of  view.  Most  of  his  Aramaic  expressions 
are  smoothed  away  by  them.  Occasionally  they 
agree  with  each  other  as  against  him  in  presentation 
of  detail  or  turn  of  expression,  and  this  has  led  to 
the  question  being  raised  whether  thej^  were  ac- 
quainted with  another  INIark  than  ours.  That  is 
not  likely  to  have  been  the  case,  however.  The 
synoptic  problem  is  very  much  minimized  if  we 
allow  sufliciently  for  the  fact  that  all  the  written 
gospels  derive  originally  from  an  unwritten  tradi- 
tion, the  oral  witness  of  the  apostles  and  their  fel- 

^  But  it  is  possible  that  later  copies  of  Mark  may  have  incorporated 
some  sayings  from  the  non-Marcan  document  mentioned  above. 

■^  This  is  not  to  say  that  they  did  not  employ  literary  sources  or 
that  the  later  did  not  depend  on  the  earlier. 

75 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

low-workers/  This  was  authoritative  and  exact  to 
a  degree  that  would  be  now  unthinkable.  With  the 
universal  development  of  the  art  of  writing  we  have 
lost  something  of  the  powers  of  memory  possessed 
by  our  forefathers  and  by  many  orientals  at  the 
present  day.  There  is  very  little  doubt  that  our 
canonical  Mark  is  substantially  the  same  gospel  as 
that  which  was  written  by  Peter's  disciple  for  Ro- 
man Christians,  Jew  and  Gentile,  some  little  time 
before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Had  it  been 
otherwise  its  Greek  would  have  undergone  revision 
and  its  provincialisms  been  pruned  away.  That  this 
has  not  been  done  points  to  its  authenticity  and  in- 
tegrity. The  Aramaic  expressions  which  jut  out 
of  the  Greek  narrative,  like  rocks  in  a  greensward, 
are  just  what  we  might  expect  of  Peter  the  fisher- 
man who  thought  in  Aramaic  and  could  not  keep 
it  entirely  out  of  his  speech.  Protestant  archaeolo- 
gists are  now  prepared  to  admit  the  probability  that 
St.  Peter  really  was  in  Rome  and  was  martyred 
there  after  ministering  to  the  little  Christian  church 
that  met  near  the  house  of  the  senator  Pudens  in 
what  is  now  called  the  catacomb  of  St.  Priscilla. 
What  more  likely  than  that  John  Mark  would  re- 
member Peter's  vivid  and  characteristic  way  of  giv- 
ing from  time  to  time  the  very  Aramaic  words 
spoken  by  our  Lord  at  important  moments!  Per- 
haps the  translation  which  Mark  usually  adds 
would  be  Peter's  own,  the  apostle  first  giving  to 
his  congregation  in  his  mother  tongue  the  very  ex- 
pression that  the  Master  used,  as  he  remembered 
it  on  some  given  occasion,  and  then  turning  it  into 

76 


THE    GOSPELS 

the  universal  Greek  as  well  as  he  could  for  the  bene- 
fit of  his  Roman  converts. 

The  Gospel  of  Luke 

The  first  and  third  gospels  make  elaborate  use 
of  Mark  but  apparently  are  not  acquainted  with 
each  other.*  Luke  is  much  more  cosmopolitan  in 
outlook  than  Matthew,  probably  for  the  reason  that 
he  was  not  a  Jew.  Luke's  sequence  of  events  in 
the  gospel  history  differs  widely  from  that  of  Mat- 
thew, probably  for  the  reason  already  mentioned 
that  Matthew  groups  his  under  subjects  whereas 
Luke  attempts  to  keep  to  something  like  chrono- 
logical order — not  that  he  always  succeeds  in  doing 
this  or  indeed  is  careful  to  maintain  it.  He  follows 
Mark  where  he  can  but  does  not  hesitate  to  fit  in 
matter  of  his  own  as  he  chooses.  For  example,  he 
inserts  the  charming  narratives  and  sayings  (chap- 
ter ix.  51  to  xviii.  14),  derived  from  a  source  pe- 
culiar to  himself,  right  in  the  middle  of  Mark's 
story  and  then  goes  on  with  the  story  where  this 
special  contribution  terminates.  His  omissions  are 
significant  as  showing  that  he  writes  for  Gentile, 
not  for  Jewish  readers,  and  therefore  wishes  to 
emphasize  the  universalism  of  the  Christian  evangel. 

8  But  Prof.  Turner,  In  his  university  lecture  on  New  Testament 
study  already  noted,  speaks  (p.  45)  of  "the  vera  causa  which  has 
of  all  been  most  steadily  overlooked  or  underestimated,  namely,  the 
influence  of  readings  introduced  from  the  text  of  one  gospel  into 
the  text  of  another."  This  consideration  leads  him  to  discuss 
further  (p.  62)  the  possible  reactions  of  Matthew  and  Luke  on  later 
versions  of  Mark. 

This  is  a  complicated  and  technical  phase  of  the  general  subject  of 
gospel  criticism  which  goes  beyond  our  present  limits. 

77 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

For  instance  he  says  nothing  about  our  Lord's  ap- 
parent repulse  of  the  Syro-Phoenician  woman,  nor 
about  Jesus'  journey  through  heathen  territory 
(Mark  vii.  31  to  viii.  10),  nor  does  he  dwell  as 
Matthew  does,  writing  for  Jewish  readers,  upon  the 
inferiority  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation  and 
standard  of  conduct;  sometimes  also  he  gives  to  a 
saying  of  Jesus  a  different  association  from  that  of 
Matthew,  thereby  altering  a  little  its  bearing.  This 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  he  records  a 
saying  in  a  connection  that  agrees  best  with  his  gen- 
eral outlook — that  is  on  the  hypothesis  (which  is 
probable  enough)  that  our  Lord  gave  utterance  to 
the  same  saying  on  different  occasions.  Matthew's 
context  for  some  sayings  is  altogether  different 
from  Luke's.  The  most  important  example  of  this 
is  the  prophecies  relating  to  the  second  advent. 
Matthew  combines  these  with  the  definite  forecast 
of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  thereby  suggesting 
that  in  the  mind  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  the  for- 
mer was  to  synchronize  with  the  latter.  Luke 
rightly  separates  the  two  consummations.  Why? 
Was  it  because  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  had 
taken  place  when  he  wrote  and  the  second  coming 
had  not,  whereas  when  Matthew  wrote  both  were 
still  in  the  future?  This  would  seem  the  most  rea- 
sonable theory. 

In  his  version  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  or 
rather  of  the  compendium  of  teaching  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  group  under  that  title,  he  has  quite 
a  number  of  very  important  sayings  (vi.  24-26;  vi. 
27,  34,  35,  37,  38)    which  are  not  in  Matthew 

78 


THE   GOSPELS 

at  all,  and  he  scatters  many  other  portions  of  this 
famous  sermon  throughout  his  gospel  and  gives 
them  a  quite  different  association.  The  denuncia- 
tions which  Matthew  records  (iii.  7,  xii.  34  and  38, 
and  xvi.  1)  as  having  been  uttered  against  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  Luke  definitely  states  as  ap- 
plying to  the  indifferent  and  wicked  amongst  Jesus* 
hearers  generally. 

Where  did  Luke  get  his  facts  and  the  point  of 
view  from  which  he  presents  them  ?  It  is  a  reason- 
able assumption  that  his  gospel  was  colored  by 
Pauline  influences  just  as  Mark's  was  by  Petrine. 
But  we  must  not  make  too  much  of  this.  St.  Paul 
was  not  a  first-hand  authority  for  the  life  of  Jesus 
as  Peter  was.  But  as  a  man  of  education  Luke 
would  find  more  to  interest  him  in  Paul's  way  of 
looking  at  things  than  Peter's.  Paul  was  familiar 
with  the  Greek  mentality  and  regarded  himself  as 
having  a  special  mission  to  the  Gentiles  although 
no  doubt  he  always  began  with  the  Jewish  syna- 
gogue in  every  city  he  entered.  Luke  is  a  Paulin- 
ist  in  his  general  outlook,  though  whether  he  would 
have  taken  the  same  outlook  if  he  had  never  come 
under  Paul's  influence  is  not  quite  so  clear;  it  is  at 
least  conceivable  that  he  might,  judging  from  his 
antecedents  and  from  the  fact  that  Christianity  was 
now  being  preached  to  the  Gentiles  as  a  universal 
religion.  But  he  did  not  keep  to  one  source;  he 
appears  to  have  taken  the  utmost  care  to  collect 
evidence  and  verify  his  facts.  For  the  nativity 
stories  he  must  have  had  an  informant  in  or  con- 
nected with  the  holy  family,  and  it  is  not  unreason^ 

79 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

able  to  conclude  with  Sir  William  Ramsay  that  this 
informant  may  have  been  no  other  than  the  mother 
of  Jesus  herself."  It  is  not  necessary  to  conjecture 
as  Dr.  Sanday  does  ^"  that  Joanna  the  wife  of 
Chuza,  Herod's  steward,  and  an  associate  of  the 
Virgin,  may  have  been  the  person  from  whom  Luke 
derives  what  he  so  beautifully  narrates  concerning 
the  birth  and  childhood  of  Jesus.  Luke  could  with- 
out difficulty  have  had  access  to  Mary  direct  or  to 
James  the  Lord's  brother  who  was  head  of  the 
church  in  Jerusalem.  The  Virgin  is  the  more  prob- 
able source  because,  as  has  been  well  remarked,  the 
restraint  and  delicacy  of  the  nativity  stories  in  the 
third  gospel  in  matters  of  such  an  intimate  personal 
character  suggest  that  a  woman  is  behind  them,  and 
if  a  woman  why  not  Mary  ?  Had  it  been  any  other 
member  of  the  holy  family  we  should  have  had 
Joseph's  point  of  view  introduced  also  which  is  not 
so.  It  is  Matthew  who  gives  Joseph's  point  of 
view,  although  Luke  did  not  know  this  at  the 
time  of  writing  any  more  than  Matthew  was  aware 
of  the  facts  which  Mary  alone  was  in  a  position  to 
reveal. 

But  Luke  appears  to  have  consulted  many  au- 
thorities in  his  search  for  materials  for  his  gospel. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  where  he  obtained 
the  exceedingly  beautiful  and  precious  collection  of 
sayings  and  parables  (ix.  51  to  xviii.  14)  referred 
to  above  which,  though  peculiar  to  this  gospel,  are 
as  characteristic  of  Jesus  as  any  that  find  a  place  in 

^Was  Christ  Born  at  Bethlehem? 
^^  Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Christ,  pp.  172,  196. 

80 


THE    GOSPELS 

the  entire  evangelic  record.  If  anything  as  valuable 
as  this  existed  either  orally  or  in  written  form  within 
the  apostolic  Church  and  as  part  of  the  subject  mat- 
ter of  the  primitive  Christian  tradition  it  is  possible 
that  other  portions  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  equally 
early  and  credible  may  yet  come  to  light.  Luke  has 
here  laid  hold  of  a  collection  of  the  Master's  dis- 
courses with  which  the  other  evangelists  did  not  pos- 
sess a  first  hand  acquaintance.  Did  he  obtain  this 
also  from  JNIary  and  her  circle?  Again  it  might 
easily  be  so,  for  all  a  woman's  tenderness  breathes 
through  it.  There  are  other  fragments  of  fact 
and  teaching  which  find  a  place  in  the  third  gospel 
alone  and  need  accounting  for.  Possibly  Luke 
picked  these  up  in  touring  the  localities  where  they 
were  originally  delivered  and  the  memory  of  them 
cherished  among  the  little  company  of  believers  that 
continued  to  worship  Jesus  there.  There  must  have 
been  a  number  of  such  local  traditions  even  after  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem  as  long  as  Palestine  continued 
populous.  There  is  no  evidence  that  Luke  ever  went 
to  Galilee  to  push  his  inquiries ;  if  he  had  one  would 
think  he  would  have  known  something  of  the  Gali- 
lean appearances  after  the  resurrection,  none  of 
which  he  mentions.  But  this  is  not  a  conclusive 
argument.  Only  a  comparative  few  of  the  com- 
pany of  disciples  in  Galilee  or  elsewhere  could  have 
known  of  these  appearances  at  the  time.  And  it  is 
plain  that  Luke's  interest  in  the  ministry  of  Jesus 
was  not  confined  to  the  south.  In  his  description 
of  the  Master's  movements  towards  the  end,  to  give 

81 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

one  outstanding  example,  he  is  on  very  sure  ground. 
He  shows,  what  is  quite  probable,  that  much  of  our 
Lord's  most  impressive  teaching  was  delivered  to 
His  intimates  during  His  last  journey  to  Jerusa- 
lem; Matthew  puts  a  considerable  part  of  it  in 
earlier  connections. 

Luke's  sympathy  with  the  poor  and  downtrodden 
comes  out  on  every  page  although  he  himself  be- 
longs to  a  superior  class.  He  stresses  every  saying 
of  the  Master  which  contains  a  denunciation  of  the 
heartless  rich  and  illustrates  His  compassion  for 
want  and  suffering.  None  of  the  other  evangelists 
tell  us  of  the  important  fact  that  Jesus  was  on  sev- 
eral occasions  a  guest  in  the  house  of  individual 
Pharisees,  thereby  indicating  that  there  was  not  for 
some  time  a  pronounced  breach  between  Him  and 
that  body. 

Another  characteristic  feature  of  St.  Luke's  gos- 
pel is  that  he  always  spares  the  reputation  of  the 
twelve  apostles  when  he  reasonably  can,  and  one 
of  his  surprising  omissions  is  the  description  of  our 
Lord's  agony  in  the  garden  so  vividly  given  in  St. 
Mark  as  well  as  in  the  others.  The  view  that  he 
shrank  from  including  this  lest  it  should  tell  against 
belief  in  the  superhuman  dignity  of  Jesus  may  have 
something  in  it,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  is  more 
likely  to  represent  his  own  reverent  attitude  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  mystery.  Nothing  was  better 
known  to  the  apostolic  Church  or  formed  a  more 
prominent  part  of  the  story  of  the  passion.  Luke 
was  familiar  with  it  in  the  pages  of  St.  Mark,  to 
go  no  further,  and  he  must  have  heard  it  again  an^ 


THE    GOSPELS 

again  in  the  course  of  apostolic  preaching  or  in 
Christian  assembHes.  He  had  no  more  reason  for 
conceahng  it  from  his  readers  than  for  conceahng 
the  crucifixion  itself. 

Of  St.  Luke  himself  we  know  but  little  beyond, 
the  fact  that  he  was  a  friend  and  companion  of  St.^ 
Paul  in  the  latter's  missionary  journeys.  As  the 
name  implies,  and  his  gospel  confirms,  he  was  most 
probably  of  Greek  origin,  and  there  is  some  likeli- 
hood that  he  was  a  brother  of  Titus.  His  character 
is  obvious  from  his  writings ;  and  tradition  supports 
the  view  that  he  was  gentle,  modest,  tender-hearted. 
His  gospel  is  superior  to  the  others  in  style  and  re- 
veals the  man  of  education  as  contrasted  with  the 
comparatively  unlettered  Jewish  Christians  who 
first  preached  Christ  to  the  Roman  world.  There 
is  an  interesting  tradition  that  he  was  also  an  artist 
and  painted  a  picture  of  the  Virgin — an  indirect 
testimony  that  he  knew  the  mother  of  Jesus  per- 
sonally, which  would  account  for  much  in  his  nar- 
rative. 

The  Latest  of  the  Gospels 

It  is  evident  even  from  the  most  cursory  exam- 
ination that  the  three  earlier  gospels  are  more  or 
less  similar  in  character  and  have  their  subject  mat- 
ter in  common  while  the  fourth  is  in  a  category  by 
itself.  The  synoptic  problem  as  stated  above  is 
the  problem  of  reconciling  or  accounting  for  the 
different  strata  in  the  composition  of  Matthew, 
Mark,  and  Luke.     The  fourth  stands  altogether 

83 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

apart  and  constitutes  an  exceedingly  complicated 
problem  in  itself  to  which  there  is  no  full  and  final 
solution  with  our  present  knowledge.  Its  tradi- 
tional author  is  John  the  son  of  Zebedee,  a  view 
which  the  majority  of  scholars  have  for  some  time 
past  united  in  rejecting,  perhaps  rather  too  hastily/^ 
To  the  present  writer  it  seems  most  probable  that 
the  apostle  John  is  behind  the  gospel  that  bears  his 
name  just  as  Peter  is  behind  Mark,  and  Paul  to 
some  extent  behind  Luke.  Perhaps  we  may  go  fur- 
ther and  say  that  he  is  as  directly  responsible  for 
the  bulk  of  the  contents  as  Matthew  for  the  first  gos- 
pel."* It  has  been  held  Impossible  that  a  Galilean 
fisherman  should  have  written  this  profound  spir- 
itual treatise — for  that  is  what  it  is — with  its  elabo- 
rate symbolism  and  philosophical  background.  But 
this  is  to  assume  too  much.  There  are  indications 
in  the  New  Testament  that  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee 
were  of  fairly  good  social  status.  For  instance  it 
was  through  John  that  Peter  obtained  entrance  to 
the  house  of  the  high  priest  on  the  night  when  Jesus 
was  arrested,  the  former  evidently  having  some  in- 
fluence in  that  quarter .^^^  He  was  the  only  one  of 
the  apostolic  band  who  could  with  impunity  remain 
near  the  cross  at  the  time  of  the  crucifixion;  and 
the  very  request  of  James  and  John,  made  through 
their  mother,  that  they  might  sit  on  the  Master's 

'^'^Vide  Principal  Drummond's  worlc!  The  Character  and  Author- 
ship of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  in  which  a  distinguished  Unitarian  scholar 
defends  the  traditional  view. 

iia.  Assuming  that  Matthew  recorded  the  non-Marcan  logia. 

^ib  Assuming  that  the  anonymous  disciple  of  the  fourth  gospel 
was  the  apostle,  and  it  is  difificult  to  see  what  other  conclusion  is 
possible, 

84 


THE    GOSPELS 

right  hand  and  on  His  left  in  His  kingdom  suggests 
that  they  considered  themselves  superior  to  the  rest. 
As  for  the  philosophical  conceptions  exhibited  in  the 
Prologue  and  the  Alexandrian  training  which  they 
presuppose,  criticism  may  be  altogether  on  a  wi'ong 
track.  As  Dr.  Rendel  Harris  suggests,  the  affini- 
ties of  the  Prologue  may  be  rather  with  the  Wisdom 
literature  of  ancient  Israel  than  with  the  Greek 
Logos  doctrine  elaborated  by  Philo  of  Alexandria." 
Why  not  both?  It  is  quite  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  parallelism  which  Philo  himself  saw  be- 
tween Wisdom  personified  and  the  Greek  Logos 
conception  was  perceived  or  communicated  to  all 
thoughtful  religious  minds  at  the  time  this  gospel 
was  written.  This  is  not  the  most  intractable  prob- 
lem connected  with  this  gospel  by  any  means.  In- 
ternal evidence  shows  that  the  author  was  a  Pales- 
tinian Jew,  that  he  knew  all  about  Jewish  manners 
and  customs  and  the  Messianic  expectation,  and 
that  he  was  thoroughly  at  home  in  his  knowledge  of 
the  districts  to  which  he  refers;  he  is  always  exact 
in  his  descriptions  and  his  local  color.  The  only 
difficulty  in  admitting  this  is  his  consistent  refer- 
ence to  our  Lord's  most  implacable  opponents  as 
the  "Jews,"  but  here  again  criticism  is  inclined  to 
see  stumbling  blocks  where  none  exist.  Taken  as 
a  whole  the  Jewish  people,  especially  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Jerusalem,  did  reject  Jesus;  and  by  the 
time  this  gospel  came  to  be  written  the  center  of 
gravity  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  no  longer  in 
Palestine  but  on  Gentile  soil ;  the  church  at  Jerusa-^ 

^*  Origin  of  the  Prologue  to  St.  John's  Gospel. 

85 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST 

lem  ceased  to  be  the  headquarters  of  the  movement 
after  the  destruction  of  the  capital  in  a.d.  70. 

Again,  the  author  of  this  gospel  knows  all  that 
he  relates  from  the   inside;   he  is   personally  ac- 
quainted with  the  various  characters  he  depicts.    He 
knows  the  principal  forces  at  work  in  the   San- 
hedrin,  and  he  is  able  to  tell  us  with  a  degree  of 
intimacy  the  others  do  not  possess  exactly  what  was 
going  on  and  what  dictated  the  policy  of  the  rulers ; 
he  is  au  fait  with  it  all  right  through.     His  very 
silence  regarding  his  own  name  points  to  John  the 
son  of  Zebedee  as  the  source  of  the  gospel,  as  other- 
wise it  would  be  inexplicable  why  an  apostle  so 
prominent  and  a  companion  of  St.  Peter  in  the  su- 
preme crisis  should  go  umiientioned.    A  common- 
sense  reading  suggests  that  St.  John  is  meant  every 
time  the  author  is  referred  to.    The  beautiful  self- 
designation  "the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved"  has 
been  found  fault  with  as  a  claim  to  special  favor  on 
the  part  of  our  Lord  and  designed  to  show  that 
John  counted  for  more  than  Peter."     It  is  the  exact 
opposite.    It  is  used  in  the  same  spirit  as  St.  Fran- 
cis of  Assisi  habitually  used  the  self -description, 
"Christ's  poor  little  one,  Francis."    It  is  meant  to 
suggest,  taken  in  conjunction  with  his  continued 
suppression  of  his  own  identity  in  his  gospel,  that 
John's  only  claim  to  worth  or  honor  was  the  fact 
that  he  was  loved  by  Jesus.     It  is  he  and  he  alone 
who  emphatically  records  in  detail  the  final  com- 

\  13  Schmiedel:  Johannine  Writings  argues  that  the  cognomen  is  so 
presumptuous  as  to  indicate  that  it  could  not  be  ^.^elf-designation 
by  the  apostle  John,  but  might  be  used  to  describe  him  by  a  devoted 

admirer. 

86 


4 


THE    GOSPELS 

mission  to  St.  Peter  after  the  resurrection,  which 
gave  to  that  apostle  an  undisputed  primacy  in  the 
primitive  Church.  There  is  an  intimacy  also  in  the^ 
description  of  the  scene  in  the  Upper  Room  at  the 
Last  Supper  which  can  only  represent  the  work  of 
an  eyewitness,  and  who  could  that  eyewitness  be 
but  the  apostle  John? "  The  stamp  of  truth  is  on 
the  whole  narrative  which  supplies  us  with  many 
valuable  details  lacking  in  the  synoptics.  Jesus 
must  have  been  in  Jerusalem  a  good  deal  oftener 
than  the  latter  relate;  it  would  be  strange  indeed 
if  He  were  not.  Why  should  He  lament  His  fail- 
ure to  influence  the  people  of  Jerusalem  if  He  had 
had  no  more  acqviaintance  with  them  than  the 
synoptics  indicate?  In  this  John  supplements  our 
knowledge  in  a  very  important  degree.  In  fact  it 
is  fairly  clear  that  the  task  whicli  he  proposed  to 
himself  was  that  of  supplementing  the  synoptics 
rather  than  reproducing  their  matter;  that  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  their  contents  there  is  abund- 
ant internal  evidence  to  show.^°  In  some  details  he 
deviates  from  them  though  perhaps  not  so  much 
as  we  might  at  first  sight  conclude.  It  is  quite; 
possible,  for  instance,  that  the  discrepancies  with 
regard  to  time  and  the  sequence  of  events  from  our 
Lord's  entry  into  Jerusalem  until  the  resurrection 
could  be  reconciled  if  we  had  more  data ;  the  mutual 

^■*  Sanday:  Criticism  of  Fourth  Gospel,  p.  179.  "The  gospel  is  the 
work  of  an  eyewitness  of  the  events,  who  is  describing  for  us  what 
he  had  himself  actually  seen." 

For  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  identity  of  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple, vide  Prof.  Stanton's  Gospels  as  Historical  Documents,  Vol. 
III.  pp.  132-146. 

15  Prof.  Stanton,  tit  sup.,  pp.  219-20,  suggests  that  the  fourth  evan- 
gelist may  have  known   Mark  only. 

87 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

relations  of  the  Jewish  and  Roman  calendars  are 
very  confusing. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  explain  the  difference  in  the 
style  of  teaching  attributed  to  our  Lord  in  the 
synoptics  and  the  fourth  gospel  respectively.  In 
the  former  He  is  terse,  epigrammatic,  parabolic;  in 
the  latter  long,  argumentative,  dogmatic.  In  the 
synoptics  the  subject-matter  of  His  discourse  is  gen- 
erally some  aspect  of  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  in  John 
it  is  mainly  Himself  and  His  claims.  This  differ- 
ence may  be  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  He  was 
dealing  with  quite  another  class  of  hearer  in  Jerusa- 
lem from  that  to  which  He  had  been  accustomed  in 
Galilee — fiercer,  more  fanatical,  less  disposed  to 
listen  to  simple  teaching  of  the  kind  which  succeeded 
in  Galilee  among  the  humble  fisher-folk  tliere.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  Jesus  did  not  begin 
with  parables  even  in  Galilee  but  adopted  the  para- 
bolic method  after  a  time  and  for  good  reasons. 
John  does  not  record  any  parables,  perhaps  because 
his  predecessors  had  already  done  so,  but  partly 
also  because  the  few  miracles  which  he  includes  are 
all  given  a  parabolic  application — made,  and  very 
suggestively  made,  the  vehicles  of  spiritual  truth." 
It  is  this  elaborate  use  of  symbolism  which  is  the 
distinguishing  feature  of  this  gospel.  In  everything 
it  contains  there  is  an  inner  as  well  as  an  outer 
meaning,  a  higher  as  well  as  a  lower,  a  spiritual  as 
well  as  a  literal.  That  the  author  selects  his  ma- 
terial out  of  a  rich  abundance  is  confessed.    He  tells 

^8  Latham :  Pastor  Pastorum,  pp.  84,  91,  suggests  that  some  of 
the  miracles  recorded  in  the  synoptics  are  also  to  be  regarded  as 
acted  parables. 

88 


THE    GOSPELS 

us  that  there  are  many  other  things  that  Jesus  did 
which  are  not  written  in  his  book,  but  that  his  spe- 
cial contribution  is  written  with  the  object  of  dem- 
onstrating that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  the  Son  of  God. 
Need  we  go  further  in  looking  for  the  reason  why 
so  large  a  part  of  the  book  is  taken  up  with  con- 
troversies with  the  Jews  in  which  Jesus  is  repre- 
sented as  putting  forward  claims  which  they  on 
their  part  are  not  prepared  to  admit?  That  Jesus 
used  a  different  style  of  teaching  at  other  times 
may  be  presumed,  and  the  writer  knew  it  from  his 
acquaintance  with  the  other  gospels  even  had  he 
not  been  a  first-hand  authoritv  himself,  but  he  re- 
ports  what  was  needed  for  the  development  of  his 
main  point.  A  close  examination  of  the  text  will 
show  that  Jesus  did  not  commit  Himself  in  regard 
to  His  ]\Iessiahship  in  the  fourth  gospel  any  more 
than  in  the  others  until  near  the  end,  nor  in  Jerusa- 
lem more  than  in  Galilee. 

Very  striking  are  the  omissions  of  St.  John.  He 
says  nothing  about  the  virgin  birth,  not  because  he 
disbelieved  in  it,  but  because  his  Logos  doctrine 
supplies  as  it  were  the  view  of  the  person  of  Christ 
which  is  it^  raison  d'etre.  He  says  nothing  about 
the  baptism  of  Jesus  but  much  about  his  relations 
with  the  Baptist  himself.  The  temptation  in  the 
wilderness,  like  the  transfiguration,  he  passes  by 
as  having  already  been  described  and  not  needed  for 
his  purpose.  The  same  is  obviously  the  explanation 
of  his  reason  for  not  including  the  solemn  institution 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  whereas  he  does  dwell  upon 
the  fact  that  Christ  is  the  bread  of  life.    Like  Luke 

89 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

he  omits  the  agony  in  the  garden,  the  cry  of  dere- 
hetion  on  Calvary,  and  the  fact  of  the  ascension, 
but  in  every  case  parallels  to  these  experiences  are 
supplied  in  the  course  of  the  narrative,  and  no  other 
of  the  evangelists  gives  so  much  of  our  Lord's  teach- 
ing on  the  subject  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

EXTRACANONICAL  WRITINGS 

Of  the  apocryphal  gospels — that  is,  gospels  which 
the  Church  has  not  thought  fit  to  include  in  the 
New  Testament  Canon — some  further  mention 
ought  to  be  made  here/^  They  contain  but  little  of 
value  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  canonical  gos- 
pels but  are  of  considerable  interest  nevertheless 
as  throwing  light  upon  the  mentality  out  of  which 
the  canonical  gospels  arose  and  which  is  taken  for 
granted  throughout  the  New  Testament.  They 
fall  into  different  categories  according  to  their 
character.  Some  are  plainly  meant  to  be  historical, 
and  in  that  respect  bear  a  certain  resemblance  in 
style  to  our  three  earlier  gospels.  There  may  in- 
deed be,  as  already  remarked,  some  amount  of 
genuine  first-hand  apostolic  matter  to  be  found 
within  them.  Of  this  order  are  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  the  Hebrews,  the  Gospel  according  to  the 
Egyptians,  and  the  Gospel  of  Peter.  Perhaps  we 
ought  also  to  add  the  Fayum  fragment  discovered 
in  Egypt  in  1882  and  the  Oxyrhyncus  group  of 
sayings  unearthed  by  Messrs.  Grenfell  and  Hunt 

'■^  It  is  said  that  fragments  of  at  least  fifty  of  such  pseudo-gospels 
are  traceable  in  early  Christian  writings.  Few  are  loiown  in  en- 
tirety. 

90 


THE    GOSPELS 

in  1897  and  1903.^^  Some  again  are  doctrinal  in 
tendency  and  bear  evidence  of  having  been  written 
mainly  to  support  some  particular  heretical  view  of 
the  person  and  work  of  our  Lord.  Such  are  the 
Gospel  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  the  Gospel  of 
Thomas,  the  Gospel  of  Philip,  and  the  Gospel  of 
Marcion.  Then  there  are  the  gospels  of  the  child- 
hood. These  profess  to  supply  information  about 
our  Lord's  immediate  ancestry  and  the  long  period 
of  His  childhood  and  youth  concerning  which  the 
canonical  gospels  are  silent.  Amongst  these  the 
Protevangelium  of  James  occupies  the  first  place 
as  claiming  to  be  an  actual  history  written  by  James 
the  Lord's  brother  concerning  the  birth  and  par- 
entage of  the  Virgin.  It  is  a  composite  production 
and  clearly  could  not  have  been  written  by  a  per- 
son of  Jewish  origin.  Two  others  derive  from  it, 
namely,  the  Gospel  of  pseudo-Matthew  and  the 
Gospel  of  the  Nativity  of  !Mary.  Both  of  these, 
however,  are  quite  late  in  point  of  date — not  earlier 
than  the  sixth  century  a.d.  In  the  same  category 
with  the  Protevangelium  of  James  must  be  included 
the  Childhood  Gospel  of  Thomas  and  a  late  Arabic 
gospel  which  covers  much  of  the  same  ground,  to- 
gether with  the  history  of  Joseph  the  Carpenter, 
somewhat  earlier  than  the  foregoing,  and  a  book 
which  has  greatly  influenced  Catholic  tradition,  the 
Assumption  of  Mary,  which  may  have  been  written 
in  the  late  fifth  century.  There  are  some  writings 
whose  theme  is  chiefly  the  incidents  appertaining  to 

18  For  a  careful  and  scholarly  examination  of  these,  vide  H.  G.  E. 
White:  Sayings  of  Jesus  from  Oxvrhyncus  (Cambridge  Press). 

91 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

the  passion  of  our  Lord  and  His  appearances  after 
death.  Of  these  the  Acts  of  Pilate  and  the  Descent 
of  Christ  into  Hades  are  the  chief  and  were  com- 
bined in  the  Middle  Ages  into  a  single  book  called 
the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus.  The  legend  of  Abgar 
belongs  to  the  same  group  and  is  fairly  early  though 
without  historical  value.  It  is  the  story  of  the  mes- 
sage sent  by  Abgar,  king  of  Edessa,  to  Jesus  asking 
the  latter  to  come  and  cure  him  and  live  in  Edessa. 
It  gives  also  our  Lord's  reply,  that  He  would  send 
one  of  His  apostles  after  His  resurrection.  This 
supposed  letter  of  Jesus  has  been  greatly  esteemed 
for  ages  in  popular  use. 

The  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews  is  evidently 
not  much  later  in  date  than  Matthew,  Mark,  and 
Luke,  and  the  same  may  be  true  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  the  Egyptians  also.  Both  are  ascetic 
in  tendency  and  the  former  is  distinctly  Jewish- 
Christian  in  standpoint.  Another  ascetic  gospel  is 
the  above-mentioned  Gospel  of  the  Twelve  Apostles 
which  regards  Jesus  as  a  man  and  nothing  more." 
All  of  them,  except  possibly  the  first-named,  depend 
chiefly  upon  the  synoptics  for  their  material  which 
they  work  over  in  accordance  with  their  particular 
point  of  view.  The  Gospel  of  Thomas  is  Gnostic 
in  origin  but  the  childhood  stories  are  orthodox. 
No  doubt  there  were  many  gospels  written  to  com- 
mend Gnostic  opinions.""    We  only  know  most  of 

■*^7.<'.  of  Ebionite  origin,  but  witH  the  Gnostic  accretion  that  the 
heavenly  or  supernatural  Christ  took  possession  of  and  used  the 
man  Jesus. 

20  Harnack's  History  of  Dogma,  Vol.  I,  gives  perhaps  the  best 
survey  of  the  subject.  Cf.  Dorner  ut  sup.  and  G.  R.  S.  Mead: 
Fragments  of  a  Faith  Forgotten. 

93 


THE    GOSPELS 

these  from  the  frequent  references  to  them  in  Chris- 
tian legend;  but  they  have  exercised  an  enormous 
influence  upon  sacred  art.  To  the  foregoing  should 
be  added  the  Diatessaron  of  Tatian  which  professes 
to  be  a  harmony  of  the  existing  gospel  narratives 
woven  into  one. 

The  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews  was 
in  use  among  the  Jewish- Christians  of  Alex- 
andria as  distinguished  from  the  native  Christians 
of  the  same  district  who  used  the  writing  known  as 
the  Gospel  according  to  the  Egyptians.  It  may  be 
assumed  that  the  former  was  written  in  Aramaic 
and  the  latter  in  Greek.  Only  fragments  of  either 
have  come  down  to  us.  Their  names  were  given  to 
them  in  common  use,  not  as  written  by  Hebrews  or 
Egyptians  respectively,  but  as  designating  the 
circles  in  which  they  were  read.  The  former  espe- 
cially would  possess  great  value  for  us  if  we  could 
recover  it  in  its  original  completeness.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  written  in  the  dialect  of  our  Lord  and 
the  apostles  themselves,  a  fact  which  alone  would 
invest  it  with  peculiar  interest.  It  must  have  con- 
tained a  good  deal  that  the  synoptics  record  but 
with  notable  variations,  as,  for  instance,  that  it  was 
in  obedience  to  the  suggestion  of  His  mother  and 
brothers  that  Jesus  went  to  be  baptized  by  John  in 
the  Jordan  but  that  before  doing  so  He  disclaimed 
any  consciousness  of  sin.  There  is  no  mention  of 
the  Holy  Sj^irit  descending  in  the  form  of  a  dove 
at  the  baptism  but  the  description  of  what  is  said 
to  have  taken  place  has  a  beauty  of  its  own:  "It 
came  to  pass,  when  the  Lord  was  come  up  out  of 

93 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

the  water,  that  the  whole  fountain  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  came  down  and  rested  on  Him  and  said  unto 
Him,  My  Son,  in  all  the  prophets  I  awaited  thy 
coming,  that  I  might  rest  on  thee.  For  thou  art 
My  rest;  thou  art  My  first-born  Son,  who  reignest 
for  ever."  In  the  story  of  the  healing  of  the  man 
with  the  withered  hand  this  gospel  tells  us  that  the 
sufferer  appealed  to  the  Master  to  help  him  on  the 
ground  that  being  a  mason  he  needed  his  hands  in 
order  to  earn  his  bread.  The  rich  young  ruler  is 
represented  as  being  displeased  with  Jesus'  require- 
ment that  he  should  sell  all  he  possessed  and  give 
to  the  poor,  and  that  Jesus  then  sharply  remon- 
strated with  him  for  his  presumptuous  claim  to 
have  kept  the  precepts  of  the  Law."  "How  sayest 
thou,  I  have  obeyed  the  Law  and  the  prophets? 
Since  it  is  written  in  the  Law,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thj^self,  and  behold,  many  of  thy  breth- 
ren, the  sons  of  Abraham,  are  covered  with  filth  and 
are  dying  with  hunger,  while  thy  house  is  full  of 
many  good  things,  and  nothing  at  all  goes  out  of  it 
to  them."  This  version  of  the  episode  throws  some 
light  on  the  account  of  the  same  contained  in  our 
canonical  gospels. 

The  view  formerly  held  by  some  scholars  that  the 
Gospel  to  the  Hebrews  might  be  identical  with  tlie 
original  Matthew  has  now  been  generally  discarded, 
but  a  good  deal  is  to  be  said  for  the  opinion  that  it 
represents  an  oral  tradition  partially  if  not  com- 
pletely independent  of  the  synoptics  and  of  equal 
antiquity.     But  this  does  not  apply  to  the  whole 

94 


THE    GOSPELS 

of  the  gospel;  some  portions  of  it  are  late,  repre- 
senting— in  the  resurrection  narratives  for  instance 
— another  stratum  of  tradition  than  that  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  Gospel  of  Peter  is  docetic''  in 
tendency  and  tells  us  explicitly  that  our  Lord  felt 
no  pain  upon  the  cross.  Origen  cites  this  gospel 
along  with  the  Protevangelium  of  James  as  author- 
ity for  the  view  of  those  who  maintained  that  Jesus' 
brothers  were  Joseph's  children  by  a  former  mar- 
riage." 

-1  I.e.  that  body  of  Jesus  was  an  appearance  merely  and  not  real, 
and,  therefore,  not  exposed  to  suffering.  On  this  heresy  vide  Har- 
nack  and  Dorner  ut  sup.  Prof.  Rendel  Harris  and  Prof.  Swete 
have  both  produced  works  on  the  Gospel  of  Peter. 

--  The  literature  concerning  the  apocryphal  gospels  is  very  large 
and  constantly  receiving  fresh  additions.  Westcott's  Introduction 
to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels  gives  an  excellent  survey,  but  recent 
translations  of  the  more  notable  portions  of  apocryphal  gospel  mat- 
ter are  available. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

The  Virgin  Birth 

We  cannot  pass  over  the  problem  of  Jesus'  birth. 
The  Church  is  committed  to  the  view  that  He  was 
born  of  a  virgin,  but  it  has  to  be  frankly  admitted 
that  this  article  of  the  faith  constitutes  a  great 
difficulty  to  the  modern  mind  and  hence  many 
among  both  clergy  and  laity  have  avowedly  given 
it  up.  It  is  not  mentioned  in  the  earliest  gospel 
or  in  the  still  earlier  writings  of  St.  Paul ;  the  writer 
of  the  fourth  gospel  who  is  well  acquainted  with  the 
other  three  deliberatelv  omits  all  reference  to  it, 
thereby  indicating,  in  the  opinion  of  some  compe- 
tent authorities,  that  it  possessed  no  value  for  him.^ 
Moreover,  the  several  accounts  of  the  Nativity  as 
given  b}^  Matthew  and  Luke  do  not  coincide;  the 
genealogies  especially  are  utterly  different.  These 
are  weighty  arguments  and  are  not  countered  by 
the  assertion  that  our  Lord's  divine  dignity  required 
a  miraculous  birth  or  that  His  sinlessness  necessi- 
tated a  breach  with  ordinary  human  generation. 

1  But  Vide  p.  88. 

96 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

He  would  not  be  either  more  or  less  divine  through 
being  born  of  a  human  father,  and  if  a  sinful  taint 
were  transmissible  by  heredity  it  would  be  as  much 
so  through  Mary  as  through  Joseph.  The  Roman 
Church  gets  over  this  difficulty  bj^  making  a  dogma 
of  the  immaculate  conception  of  Mary  herself  but 
only  by  removing  the  problem  a  stage  farther  back. 
If  it  were  possible  to  break  the  entail  of  sinfulness 
in  this  way  for  one  person  by  a  direct  act  of  God 
it  could  be  done  for  the  whole  human  race  without 
calling  in  any  other  redemptive  agency.  We  may 
as  well  say  at  once  that  if  there  be  no  other  argu- 
ment for  the  virgin  birth  than  that  our  Lord's 
divine  origin  and  spiritual  perfection  necessitated 
this  mode  of  His  entry  into  the  conditions  of  earthly 
humanity  it  rests  on  no  solid  foundations. 

On  the  other  hand  we  must  not  be  too  positive  in 
saying  what  is  or  is  not  possible  to  God  in  His  deal- 
ings with  man.  There  is  a  charm  and  sweetness  as 
well  as  a  dignified  restraint  about  the  Nativity 
stories  which  have  given  them  a  powerful  appeal  to 
the  devout  imagination  in  all  ages  and  we  have  no 
right  to  fling  them  aside  merely  on  the  ground  that 
they  are  not  consonant  with  normal  human  experi- 
ence. The  question  resolves  itself  mainly  into  this, 
Did  the  coming  of  Jesus  into  the  world  represent 
the  intrusion  of  a  higher  principle  of  life  than  what 
had  hitherto  been  known  as  human  into  our  con- 
cerns? Was  the  new  start  thus  made  as  great  a 
departure  in  its  way  as  that  which  separates  man 
from  the  brute  creation?  If  so,  what  more  likely 
than  that  it  should  be  signalized  by  something  that 

97 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

would  in  a  measure  anticipate  the  sexless  humanity 
which  is  to  be?  for  this  is  what  the  virgin  birth  does. 
Keeping  therefore  closely  to  the  standpoint  with 
which  we  began  this  work,  we  ought  to  refuse  to 
consider  the  case  against  the  virgin  birth  as  closed 
by  any  a  priori  considerations  concerning  what  is 
inherently  probable  or  improbable.  The  whole  life 
of  Jesus  is  one  long  miracle;  He  Himself,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  the  supreme  miracle ;  why  hastily  con- 
clude that  in  the  manner  of  His  birth  there  could 
be  nothing  supernormal,  nothing  differentiating 
Him  from  mankind  at  large? 

Nor  when  we  come  to  examine  the  evidence  avail- 
able are  the  difficulties  as  great  as  commonly  repre- 
sented. That  Mark  does  not  mention  the  birth  and 
childhood  is  not  surprising.  He  was  giving 
Peter's  memories  of  the  public  ministry  and  did  not 
profess  to  do  more.  Assuredly''  if  he  does  not  affirm 
the  virgin  birth  neither  does  he  deny  it.  No  more 
does  St.  Paul.  His  words  are  that  Jesus  was  "born 
of  a  woman,"  but  he  nowhere  says  born  of  a  man. 
If  St.  John  omits  any  direct  statement  of  the  virgin 
birth  he  at  least  does  not  contradict  it,  and  in  the 
present  winter's  opinion  he  does  the  opposite  of 
what  the  authorities  referred  to  above  attribute 
to  him,  namely,  evince  disapproval  of  the  Matthaean 
and  Liukan  view  by  falling  back  on  the  doctrine  of 
the  eternal  Word  made  flesh.  That  he  does  the 
latter  rather  strengthens  than  weakens  the  tradi- 
tional view.  He  means  to  show  that  such  a  person 
as  Jesus  had  never  appeared  among  men  before 
and  never  would  again.    Was  it  likely  that  such  a 

98 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

being  would  be  born  as  ordinary  human  beings  are 
born?  He  goes  on  further  to  insist  upon  a  spiritual 
birth  which  all  believers  undergo — "not  of  blood, 
nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 
but  of  God" — a  birth  whereby  we  are  to  enter  upon 
the  kind  of  life  which  was  already  Christ's  before 
He  was  born  into  this  world  in  the  likeness  of  man. 
Not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh  nor  of  the  will  of  man — 
what  can  this  signify  but  that  He  Himself  came 
to  earth  by  the  act  of  heaven  and  not  by  ordinary 
human  generation? 

That  St.  Luke,  who  was  always  careful  of  his 
facts,  knew  the  family  of  Jesus  is  evident  enough 
from  xxi.  18  if  nothing  more.  His  intimacy  with 
the  personages  of  whom  he  and  the  synoptics  speak, 
in  common  as  having  been  of  the  company  of  Jesus 
is  equally  marked.  Dr.  Sanday  says  that  in  Luke's 
visit  to  Jerusalem  in  57  and  58  he  had  opportunity 
for  meeting  and  knowing  Marj^  the  Virgin  of  which 
he  would  be  sure  to  avail  himself  for  the  purpose 
of  his  gospel.^^  But  surely  the  matter  would  be  well 
known  in  any  case  to  the  church  at  Jerusalem  of 
which  James  the  Lord's  brother  was  head;  there 
would  be  no  great  difficulty  in  getting  at  the  facts. 
It  should  also  be  remembered  and  taken  into  ac- 
count that  a  virgin  birth  would  not  be  as  incredible 
to  the  ordinary  mind  of  that  time  as  it  would  be  to 
the  ordinary  mind  of  our  time.  There  was  a  wide- 
spread belief,  as  the  rabbinical  literature  shows, 
that  a  world-redeemer  would  shortly  be  born  who 
would  remain  hidden  until  the  time  for  His  appear- 

la  Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Christ,  p.  194. 

99 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

ance  was  ripe.     Everything  connected  with  this 
mysterious  person  was  supernormal. 

The  Genealogies 

The  problem  of  the  genealogies  has  been  much 
exaggerated.  To  begin  with,  there  is  no  cogent 
reason  for  concluding  that  the  author  of  St.  Mat- 
thew's gospel  is  not  also  the  compiler  of  the  gene- 
alogy which  is  prefixed  to  it;  and  therefore  it  is 
obvious  that  to  him  there  was  no  discrepancy  be- 
tween his  statement  of  the  descent  of  Jesus  and  his 
emphatic  assertion  that  the  latter  was  born  of  a  vir- 
gin. The  reading  in  the  Syriac  version  of  this  gos- 
pel, "Joseph,  to  whom  was  betrothed  Mary  the 
Virgin,  begat  Jesus,  who  was  called  the  Christ," 
does  nothing  to  invalidate  this  view.^  The  only  ques- 
tion is  why  the  canonical  IMatthew  takes  the  trouble 
to  give  us  a  genealogy  of  Jesus  which  is  not  that  of 
Mary  but  of  Joseph,  and  the  answer  is  that  the 
genealogy  is  symbolical  only  and  was  not  intended 
to  give  the  actual  physical  ancestry  of  Jesus  but 
rather  the  moral  and  religious.  That  both  Mary 
and  Joseph  belonged  to  the  house  of  David  is  quite 
probable  judging  by  the  consistent  witness  of  the 
New  Testament  to  the  fact  of  our  Lord's  Davidic 
descent.  But  Matthew's  gospel  is  characteristically 
Jewish  and  rabbinic  in  the  use  it  makes  of  illus- 
trative Old  Testament  names  and  quotations  for 
the  sake  of  edification.  The  genealogy  is  a  plain 
indication  of  this.     Its  contents  are  presented  in 

2  Because  it  might  merely  indicate  legal  paternity. 

100 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

three  groups  of  fourteen  names  each  as  the  author 
is  careful  to  remind  us — fourteen  being  a  double 
of  the  sacred  number  seven — but  such  a  lengthy, 
period  would  require  a  far  longer  list  if  we  were 
to  take  it  literally.  And  when  we  scrutinize  the 
names  themselves  we  come  upon  some  strange  in- 
troductions— Tamar  the  adulteress,  Rahab  the  har- 
lot, Ruth  the  Moabitess  (of  a  race  which  according 
to  the  Law  was  never  to  mingle  with  Israel  or  share 
in  the  Messianic  promise) ,  Bathsheba  the  paramour 
of  David.  What  can  this  mean  but  to  show  that  all 
Israelitish  history  is  in  a  manner  summed  up  and 
fulfilled  in  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  and  that  even 
the  sinner  and  the  foreigner  are  from  this  point  of 
view  to  be  brought  within  the  scope  of  divine  grace? 
The  artificiality  of  the  structure  of  this  illustrative 
summary  is  therefore  seen  to  have  a  very  definite 
purpose :  Jesus  is  the  flower  of  the  Jewish  race,  that 
in  which  its  age-long  hope  is  fulfilled,  but  in  such 
a  way  as  not  to  exclude  the  Gentile  from  participa- 
tion in  its  benefits  or  the  sinner  from  its  efficacy. 
The  word  "begat"  is  used  in  the  legal  sense  only,  to 
indicate  succession.  Thus  one  man  is  said  to  have 
begotten  another  after  many  generations'  interval. 
This  is  the  sole  explanation  of  Matthew's  version 
of  the  genealog}^  of  Jesus  which  has  much  weight 
and  it  is  the  simplest  and  most  reasonable.  It 
does  not  follow,  of  course,  that  it  is  necessar- 
ily inconsistent  with  Luke's  because  the  list  of 
names  is  different.  We  could  write  two  exhaustive 
genealogies  of  any  one  which  would  have  little  in 
common.     Of  the  present  King  of  England,  for 

101 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

instance,  it  would  be  easy  to  prepare  a  genealogical 
table  which  could  leave  out  some  of  the  most  not- 
able names  in  English  history  and  yet  be  full  and 
accurate  and  that  without  skipping  a  single  gen- 
eration. 

St.  Luke  follows  something  of  this  method  in 
tracing  the  descent  of  Joseph  through  the  line  of 
Nathan  the  son  of  David  and  rejecting  others.  His 
omissions  are  even  more  numerous  than  ^latthew's 
but  there  is  no  indication  that  he  wrote  with  the 
same  object;  on  the  contrary  Luke's  well  established 
character  for  care  in  the  verification  of  his  facts 
would  suggest  that  he  took  some  trouble  to  make 
sure  of  his  ground.  Why  then  does  he  also  give 
Joseph's  pedigree  instead  of  Mary^s  while  affirm- 
ing the  virgin  birth  of  Jesus  with  as  much 
emphasis  as  the  first  evangelist?  It  is  impossible 
to  say  with  confidence,  but  a  fair  supposition  is  that 
Joseph  and  Mary  had  a  common  ancestry  upon  one 
side  of  the  house  and  that  Luke  deliberately  chose 
to  trace  the  descent  of  Jesus  through  this  line,  using 
for  that  purpose  the  record  which  existed  at  the 
time  wherein  Joseph  would  appear  as  the  putative 
father  of  Jesus.  It  has  to  be  admitted  that  this  is 
mere  conjecture  but  it  solves  a  problem.  Here  we 
have  descent  from  Joseph  described  in  what  has 
rightly  been  looked  upon  as  the  gospel  in  which  the 
Nativity  is  presented  from  Mary's  side.  Why  give 
the  genealogies  at  all  ?  Perhaps  in  part  as  explain- 
ing Joseph's  journey  to  Bethlehem  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  enrolled  at  the  command  of  Augustus 
Csesar. 

103 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

The  Census 

Until  recently  one  of  the  most  perplexing  prob- 
lems in  connection  with  the  gospel  accounts  of  the 
life  of  Jesus  has  been  this  enrollment  or  census  but 
Sir  William  Ramsay  has  done  a  great  deal  towards 
clearing  it  up.^  Apparently  its  purpose  was  not 
primarily  for  purposes  of  taxation  though  ulti- 
mately it  may  have  been  so.  Luke  is  careful  to 
say  that  it  was  the  first  one  of  the  kind,  thus  show- 
ing that  he  was  perfectly  aware  of  another  and 
better  known  one  at  a  different  period.  There  is 
nothing  to  show  that  either  Joseph  or  anyone  else 
was  obliged  to  make  the  journey  to  his  native  place 
in  order  that  the  census  should  be  properly  taken. 
What  is  more  probable  is  that  he  had  his  own  rea- 
sons for  going  such  as  the  possession  of  family 
property  in  or  near  Betlilehem.  It  is  now  beyond 
dispute  that  these  provincial  censuses  were  taken 
periodically  throughout  the  empire,  in  some  cases 
annually.  We  know  also  that  the  Jews  hotly  re- 
sented the  national  census  which  was  taken  in  a.d.  6 
and  which  appears  to  have  been  conducted  in  tlie 
Roman  fashion  (Acts  v.  36).  A  revolt  headed  by 
Judas  of  Galilee  broke  out  on  account  of  this,  no 
doubt  because  of  the  taxation  attaching  to  it,  and 
this  revolt  led  to  the  foundation  of  the  party  of  the 
Zealots  to  which,  as  we  have  seen,  one  of  the  apostles 
originally  belonged."*  There  is  no  record  of  the 
earlier  census  nor  any  explanation  of  the  acquies- 

3  IVas  Christ  Born  at  Bethlehem?    Part  II. 
*  It  has  been  argued  that  we  have  an  anachronism  here ;  but  the 
point  is  not  a  vital  one. 

103 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

cence  of  the  Jews  in  the  one  and  their  resistance  to 
the  other  beyond  the  implication  that  the  former 
was  conducted  by  households  and  without  the  direct 
interference  of  the  Roman  authorities  and  the  latter 
was  not.  Luke  says  indeed  that  the  census  associa- 
ted  with  the  birth  of  Christ  was  an  enrollment  only. 
That  it  was  universal  and  extended  to  the  whole 
Roman  world  would  mean  that  it  took  a  consider- 
able time  and  was  meant  to  establish  a  basis  for  later 
fiscal,  military  and  commercial  statistics.  It  is  a 
fair  inference  that  the  emperor  was  dissatisfied  with 
Herod's  method  of  carrying  out  his  instructions  in 
the  first  instance  and  that  it  was  because  of  this  that 
the  supplementary  and  stricter  census  was  ordered 
which  provoked  the  rising  mentioned  in  Acts.  We 
may  be  sure  that  Luke  would  not  venture  upon  the 
definite  statement  that  a  decree  of  world  enrollment 
was  actually  issued  by  Augustus  unless  he  knew 
that  the  fact  was  beyond  challenge.  Leaving  aside 
his  reputation  for  accuracy  we  have  still  to  allow 
for  the  existence  at  the  time  the  gospel  was  written 
of  many  thousands  of  people  who  were  contempo- 
rary with  what  is  thus  recorded,  to  the  extent  of 
knowing  all  about  the  matter  at  first  hand. 

If  we  had  only  Matthew's  account  to  guide  us  we 
should  conclude  that  Bethlehem  and  not  Nazareth 
was  the  home  of  Joseph  and  Mary  at  least  until 
after  the  return  from  Egypt,  but  Luke  as  definitely 
says  that  the  annunciation  to  INIary  took  place  in 
the  Galilean  city.  The  hypothesis  is  a  reasonable 
one  that  Nazareth  was  only  the  temporary  abode  of 
JMary  and  her  espoused  husband  for  some  time  prior 

104 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

to  the  Nativity  and  would  never  have  been  more 
but  for  the  hostihty  of  Herod  after  that  event.  This 
makes  plain  too  why  Mary  made  the  journey  south 
in  her  then  delicate  condition;  she  wanted  to  get 
home,  not  merely  to  be  enrolled  in  her  native  place 
but  that  her  child  should  be  born  there;  it  would 
not  be  likely  that  she  should  mistake  the  significance 
of  the  angelic  announcement  that  her  Son  should 
inherit  the  throne  of  His  father  David. 

The  Annunciation 

Concerning  the  form  of  the  announcement  itself, 
nothing  need  be  yielded  to  prosaic  modern  ration- 
alism. Once  grant  that  the  coming  of  Jesus  into 
the  world  was  a  unique  fact  as  already  depicted, 
the  irruption  of  a  new  principle  into  earthly  con- 
ditions, and  it  becomes  certain  that  that  advent  was 
prepared  for  on  both  sides  of  the  veil.  The  beauti- 
ful stories  in  IMatthew  and  Luke  concerning  this 
mystery  have  been  styled  the  poetry  of  the  Na- 
tivity, and  the  description  is  true  enough,  for  poetry 
is  truer  than  prose.  More  took  place  around  the 
cradle  of  Bethlehem  than  could  be  expressed  in 
terms  of  ordinary  human  experience.  And  granted 
that  the  birth  of  Mary's  child  was  the  stupendous 
event  that  Christians  have  always  believed  it  to  be 
and  that  history  has  justified  them  in  affirming, 
Mary  must  have  had  some  idea  of  it  beforehand ;  it 
would  be  incredible  that  she  should  be  left  without 
some  intimation  of  the  august  privilege  that  was  to 
be  hers.  Hence  the  Lukan  account  of  the  appear- 
ance of  a  celestial  messenger  represents  not  more 

105 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

but  less  than  the  truth  of  what  happened.  The  same 
appHes  with  even  greater  force  to  the  winsome  nar- 
ratives of  the  angehc  appearance  to  the  shepherds 
on  the  hillsides  near  Bethlehem,  to  the  journey  of 
the  Magi,  and  all  the  other  supernormal  incidents 
which  center  in  that  marvelous  birth  in  David's 
city.  It  could  not  have  taken  place  without  super- 
natural accompaniments,  for  little  though  earth 
know  about  it  heaven  knew  all.  So  far  from  the 
supernatural  being  a  difficulty  here  its  absence  from 
the  narrative  would  create  a  greater  difficulty. 
There  is  no  difficulty  save  in  the  mental  attitude  of 
our  age. 

The  angels  keep  their  ancient  places: — 
Turn  but  a  stone,  and  start  a  wing! 
'Tis  ye ;  'tis  jour  estranged  faces, 
That  miss  the  many-splendored  thing. 

What  Happened  at  Bethlehem 

Sentiment  has  played  a  great  part  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  conditions  under  which  our  Savior  was 
brought  into  the  world.  Thus  Joseph  and  Mary 
have  often  been  described  as  vainly  seeking  shelter 
from  the  hard  and  heedless  company  in  which  they 
found  themselves,  they  being  too  poor  to  be  able 
to  command  the  accommodation  which  wealth  could 
have  secured.  Much  eloquence  has  been  expended 
on  the  supposed  fact  that  the  humble  pair  could 
find  no  other  chamber  than  the  rude  stable  hard  by 
a  crowded  inn.  Tradition  has  embellished  the  story 
by  adding  that  animals  occupied  it  at  the  same  time. 
There  is  no  word  about  any  woman  being  present 

106 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

except  Mary  herself,  and  it  is  she  who  is  said  to 
have  wrapped  her  baby  in  rude  coverings  and  laid 
Him  in  the  manger  where  animals  usually  fed.  The 
scene  is  suggestive  of  indigence  to  the  verge  of 
want  and  of  utter  callousness  on  the  part  of  the 
multitudes  outside  who  cared  nothing  about  the 
poor  travailing  young  mother  in  her  extremity. 

But  we  must  beware  of  too  positive  conclusions 
here.  There  is  no  evidence  to  bear  out  this  view 
and  probabilities  are  against  it.  Mary  and  Joseph 
would  travel  together  to  Bethlehem  in  the  company 
of  a  caravan.  They  would  have  some  friends 
therein  and  it  is  unlikely  that  Mary  was  the  only 
woman.  The  journey  was,  as  always,  slow  and  not 
exacting.  Mary  perhaps  was  not  expecting  to  be 
delivered  immediately  or  at  any  rate  had  no  clear 
certainty  on  the  subject.  Doubtless  the  pair  had 
relatives  in  or  near  Bethlehem  if  they  came  from 
that  neighborhood  themselves,  but  there  would  be  no 
immediate  reason  for  seeking  them  out  unless  Marv 
were  in  urgent  need  of  seclusion,  and  this  appears 
to  have  been  what  happened.  On  their  arrival  the 
open  yard  of  the  caravanserai  would  provide  a  suf- 
ficient resting  place  for  them  and  their  belong- 
ings, including  the  beasts  of  burden  whereon  the 
journey  was  made.  But  when  it  became  evident 
that  JNIary  must  withdraw  from  such  a  public  place 
they  would  first  try  to  obtain  admission  to  the  inn 
itself  and  then  finding  that  full  would  look  else- 
where. The  most  obvious  covered  place  that  sug- 
gested itself  would  be  one  of  the  rock  caves  hard 
by  and  of  which  some  are  still  to  be  found  in  that 

107 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

locality,  used  for  the  housing  of  animals  when 
necessary.  There  they  would  go,  and  for  aught  we 
know, — indeed  it  is  more  than  supposition, — Joseph 
would  seek  out  a  friend  or  friends  of  Mary's  own 
sex  to  be  near  her  at  such  a  time.  That  they  did 
not  lack  friends  is  evident  from  the  many  hints  that 
are  given  later.  Perhaps  Mary's  own  sister  Salome, 
the  mother  of  James  and  John  the  sons  of  Zebedee, 
may  have  been  of  the  company — if  this  Salome  were 
indeed  Mary's  sister  and  if  there  be  any  foundation 
for  Sir  William  Ramsay's  theory  that  it  was  she 
who  was  the  source  of  St.  Luke's  Nativity  stories." 

Whence,  again,  came  the  Magnificat  ?  It  was  an 
early  Christian  hymn  and  always  attributed  to 
Mary.  Is  there  anything  strained  in  the  suggestion 
that  she  was  indeed  the  composer  during  her  jour- 
ney south  to  visit  Elizabeth  when  her  soul  was  ex- 
alted with  the  divine  revelation  that  had  been  made 
to  her?  There  are  signs  that,  as  we  now  have  it,  it 
derives  from  an  Aramaic  original,  and  there  is 
nothing  far-fetched  in  the  assumption  that  the 
humble  Jewish  maiden  deliberately  based  her  song 
on  that  of  Hannah  because  of  the  similarity  in  the 
experiences  of  the  two  women.  This  hypothesis 
fits  the  facts  just  as  the  song  itself  fits  the  situation 
as  it  then  existed  but  would  have  failed  to  do  so 
later  on.  She  sang  of  the  future  as  one  with  her 
Jewish  training  would  see  it,  and  took  for  granted 
no  more  than  any  one  with  her  antecedents  would. 

The  story  of  the  revelation  to  the  shepherds  and 
that  of  the  coming  of  the  Magi  cannot  reasonably 

^  Ut  sup.    Was  Christ  Born  at  Bethlehem^ 

108 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

be  set  aside  as  without  historic  foundation  either. 
The  shepherds  on  the  hills  outside  Bethlehem  were 
engaged  in  the  work  of  rearing  the  paschal  lambs 
for  the  Feast  of  the  Passover  which,  judging  from 
the  fact  that  they  were  in  the  fields  all  night,  must 
have  been  near  at  hand.  Such  men,  with  such  an 
occupation,  would  be  of  devout  character,  just  as 
the  men  of  the  medieval  masonic  guilds  gave  a  re- 
ligious flavor  to  their  organizations  because  their 
work  was  to  erect  sacred  edifices.  AVhy  did  the 
shepherds  receive  any  intimation  of  what  had  taken 
place  in  Bethlehem  that  night?  There  is  an  ex- 
planation which  has  at  least  some  serious  title  to 
credence.  It  is  that  they  were  from  the  very  nature 
of  their  vigil  passing  the  time  in  devotional  exer- 
cises and  conversation  concerning  God's  promise 
to  His  people.  If  in  the  solemnity  of  that  praj^er 
meeting  under  the  stars  they  rose  to  heights  of  re- 
ligious feeling,  like  thousands  of  the  servants  of 
God  before  and  since,  and  if  their  one  concerted 
earnest  desire  was  that  God  should  show  some 
speedy  sign  of  coming  to  the  deliverance  of  Israel 
and  in  blessing  to  mankind,  what  wonder  if  they 
were  suddenly  made  aware  that  their  petition  was 
in  process  of  being  answered?  Something  of  the 
stir  being  made  on  the  higher  side  of  the  very  thin 
veil  tliat  stretches  between  earth  and  heaven  broke 
through  to  their  astonished  senses  and  they  saw 
and  heard  for  a  moment  what  is  ordinarily  hidden 
from  our  grosser  perceptions  but  none  the  less  real. 
Something  happened;  of  that  we  may  be  sure;  it 
would  be  strange  if  it  had  not,  considering  how  stu- 

109 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

pendous  was  the  event  that  was  taking  place  and 
how  deep  the  interest  in  it  on  the  superphysical 
plane.  Heaven  knew  what  earth  could  not  know, 
knew  and  rejoiced  therein,  and  for  a  fleeting  mo- 
ment the  senses  of  humble  men  at  prayer  in  the 
midnight  hour  were  enlarged  to  receive  a  glimpse 
of  that  celestial  knowledge. 

Be  it  remembered  that  such  supernatural  occur- 
rences would  not  be  received  with  the  same  in- 
credulity at  that  time  and  place  as  to-day  and 
amongst  ourselves.  If  people  speedily  forgot  the 
wonder  thus  revealed  they  would  at  least  be  sus- 
ceptible to  what  they  were  told  of  it  for  the  oc- 
casion. Bethlehem  would  be  greatly  excited  by  the 
news  as  it  spread  from  lip  to  lip.  We  are  assured 
that  it  was  so,  and  we  might  infer  it  even  if  the 
record  were  silent  on  the  point.  A  corroborative 
item  is  supplied  in  the  implication  that  Joseph  and 
Mary  did  not  stay  long  in  their  lowly  lodging.  The 
evangelists  do  not  comment  upon  the  fact,  but  we 
next  meet  the  little  family  in  a  house.  Where 
would  this  be  ?  Not  a  word  is  spoken  about  the  host 
or  hostess :  Is  it  possible  that  it  belonged  to  mem- 
bers of  Joseph  and  Mary's  own  family  ?  Was  it  in 
Bethlehem  itself  or  some  little  distance  away?  Why 
did  they  not  go  there  at  first  instead  of  putting  up 
at  the  caravanserai  mentioned  by  Luke?  We  do 
not  know  unless  it  were  that  there  were  some  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  access  to  it  at  short  notice :  hence 
it  may  have  been  their  own,  the  property  which  they 
had  come  up  to  attest,  and  needed  preparing  before 
it  could  be  made  a  home.    Further,  it  is  suggested 

110 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

that  they  went  there  quietly  because  of  the  publicity 
given  to  their  affairs  by  the  shepherds ;  this  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  a  little  later  no  one 
knew  where  to  find  them  except  after  exhaustive  in- 
quiry. 

A  good  deal  appears  to  have  happened  in  the 
interval.  The  humble  pair  had  been  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem and  presented  the  infant  in  the  Temple  with 
the  customary  usages,  and  He  had  been  circum- 
cised on  the  eighth  day  like  all  male  Jewish  chil- 
dren. Hints  are  afforded  us  again  of  supernormal 
revelations  to  holy  and  pious  persons  concerning 
this  little  one  who  had  come  so  strangely  into  the 
world,  but  nothing  is  told  concerning  these  experi- 
ences which  would  now  be  considered  fanciful  in 
the  light  of  what  we  know  of  the  operation  of  ex- 
ceptional gifts  allied  to  carefully  disciplined  re- 
ligious character.  What  was  vouchsafed  to  Simeon 
and  Anna  was  not  one  whit  more  wonderful  than 
may  be  paralleled  repeatedly  from  the  lore  of  saint- 
ship  and  even  of  psychic  sensitives  at  the  present 
day.  What  is  specially  interesting  in  the  case  of 
these  holy  people  is  that  they  were  representative 
of  a  class.  We  are  expressly  told  that  they  be- 
longed to  communities  of  persons  who  were  banded 
together  in  Judea  and  especially  in  Jerusalem  for 
the  express  purpose  of  praying  and  watching  "for 
the  consolation  of  Israel."  It  is  in  accordance  with 
God's  ways  of  working  that  they  should  not  pray 
in  vain.  Anna  the  prophetess  soon  spread  the  glad 
tidings  far  and  near  throughout  these  quiet  retired 
circles. 

Ill 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

It  is  not  likely  that  this  kind  of  thing  could  go 
on  for  long  without  attracting  some  amount  of  at- 
tention. The  jealous  Herod  would  get  to  hear  of 
it  though  at  first  he  might  not  pay  much  heed.  Per- 
haps the  news  traveled  farther  afield  than  Palestine 
itself  and  roused  some  interest  here  and  there  in 
persons  not  of  Jewish  race.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the 
next  stage  in  the  unfolding  story  is  marked  by  the 
coming  of  what  must  have  been  a  fairly  large  com- 
pany forming  the  train  of  three  travelers  who  had 
journej^ed  to  Jerusalem  with  the  express  object  of 
discovering  the  whereabouts  of  a  child  who,  they 
had  reason  to  believe,  was  destined  to  play  a  sov- 
ereign part  in  the  history  of  the  race,  a  child  of 
destiny  in  fact. 

There  is  much  that  is  mysterious  in  this  epi- 
sode but  well  worth  examination.  Who  were 
these  three  men  and  where  did  they  come  from? 
Were  they  persons  of  consideration  or  the  reverse? 
What  led  them  to  undertake  their  journey  and  how 
did  they  regard  the  object  of  their  quest?  Tradi- 
tion has  it  that  they  were  petty  chieftains  or  sheiks ; 
the  New  Testament  tells  us  no  more  than  that  they 
were  sages,  that  is,  persons  who  made  a  study  of 
prophecy  and  occult  lore;  the  indications  are  that 
astrology  came  Avithin  their  purview.  We  know 
that  at  that  period  there  was  a  widespread  belief 
amongst  surrounding  nations  that  a  prince  would 
be  born  of  Jewish  race  who  would  change  the  face 
of  the  world."  These  pilgrims  appear  to  have  been 
familiar  with  that  prophecy  and  may  possibly  have 

6  Edersheim :  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah,  i,  293. 

112 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

heard  of  its  fulfillment  in  the  remarkable  story  of 
the  birth  at  Bethlehem.  Where  they  came  from 
there  is  nothing  to  show.  Justin  Martyr  (Dial.  77, 
88)  says  they  came  from  Arabia  but  does  not  indi- 
cate the  source  of  his  information.  INIatthew's  ac- 
count is  not  necessarily  a  contradiction  of  this  state- 
ment, for  the  phrase  "the  star  in  the  east,"  prob- 
ably only  means  in  astrological  terms  "in  the  as- 
cendant" or  "in  the  rising."  In  their  observation 
of  the  heavens  they  had  noted  a  sidereal  phenom- 
enon which,  coupled  with  some  tidings  which  may 
have  reached  their  ears  concerning  the  happenings 
at  Bethlehem,  led  them  to  conclude  that  the  hero- 
king  of  prophecy  had  appeared:  hence  the  jour- 
ney which  they  undertook  in  order  to  pay  their 
homage  to  Him.  Jesus  by  this  time  may  have  been 
as  much  as  a  year  old  or  more,  and  a  journey  from 
the  borders  of  Persia  would  take  many  months, 
from  Arabia  not  so  long. 

They  made  no  secret  of  their  quest.  Knowing 
no  more  than  the  bare  fact  that  the  child  of  destiny 
was  somewhere  in  Palestine  they  made  straight  for 
the  capital  and  interrogated  the  authorities  con- 
cerning the  whereabouts  of  the  little  one.  A  cara- 
van of  such  size  would  have  attracted  attention  in 
any  case,  but  before  long  the  news  of  their  coming 
was  brought  to  Herod  who  was  greatly  perturbed 
thereat.  We  are  told  that  the  whole  city  shared  his 
interest  though  we  may  rightly  infer,  with  very 
different  feelings.  Everyone  knew  that  Bethlehem 
was  in  traditional  belief  the  place  of  the  national 
deliverer's  nativity,   and   in  response  to  Herod's 

113 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

question  on  the  point  the  Temple  authorities  and 
doctors  of  the  Law  told  him  so.  But  how  to  find 
this  child  of  prophecy  was  not  so  easy.  As  we  have 
seen,  Joseph  by  this  time  had  apparently  withdrawn 
mother  and  babe  into  seclusion,  well  knowing  what 
would  befall  if  he  allowed  them  to  become  a  center 
of  public  curiosity  and  perhaps  of  something  more. 
At  the  first  hint  of  danger  he  would  remove  his 
charges  elsewhere.  Hence  Herod  set  a  trap  for 
the  Magi,  speaking  them  fair  and  asking  them  to 
discover  the  habitation  of  the  infant  prince  and 
afterwards  disclose  it  to  him  that  he  might  have  the 
opportunity  of  tendering  a  similar  tribute.  They 
succeeded,  how  we  are  not  informed,  but  it  requires 
no  great  exercise  of  imagination  to  understand  that 
they  would  have  misgivings  on  the  subject  of 
Herod's  purpose.  Herod's  subjects  would  supply 
sufficient  testimony  to  make  them  hesitate  about  re- 
turning to  Jerusalem.  We  can  imagine  the  con- 
versations about  this  which  they  would  have  with 
Joseph  and  the  consequent  uneasiness  of  the  latter ; 
hence  it  is  not  at  all  remarkable  that  the  subject 
should  recur  to  all  of  them  in  visions  of  the  night. 
The  visitors  took  the  precaution  of  journeying  home 
by  a  route  which  avoided  Jerusalem,  and  Joseph  in 
his  anxiety  shortly  afterwards  fled  the  scene  also, 
taking  Mary  and  her  child  to  Egypt  for  safety. 

The  Settlement  in  Galilee 

How  long  the  holy  family  sojourned  in  Egypt 
is  not  stated  in  the  New  Testament  though  the  ex- 

114 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

tracanonical  literature  of  the  infancy  has  much  to 
say  about  it,  perhaps  with  some  foundation  of  truth. 
The  stay  could  hardly  have  been  prolonged  if  only 
because  the  date  of  Herod's  death  occurs  so  soon 
after  the  events  above  narrated,  though  of  course 
it  does  not  follow  that  the  exiles  left  Egypt  im- 
mediately on  hearing  the  news.  From  Matthew's 
account  it  would  appear  that  the}^  were  on  their  way 
back  to  Bethlehem — another  sidelight  showing  that 
their  interests  were  really  there — but  hearing  that 
the  tyrant  Archelaus  had  succeeded  his  father  as 
ruler  of  Judea  they  turned  their  footsteps  north- 
ward and  settled  in  Nazareth.  Presumably  they 
had  associations  with  that  part  but  may  have  had 
no  fixed  habitation  there  until  after  the  return  from 
^gJ'pt-  The  third  evangelist  calls  it  "their  o^vn 
city  Nazareth." 

The  apocryphal  gospels,  as  is  but  natural,  try  to 
fill  for  us  the  gap  in  the  record  between  the  in- 
fancy and  the  commencement  of  the  public  min- 
istry of  our  Lord.  Curiosity  on  this  subject  would 
be  sure  to  exist  in  apostolic  times  as  now;  but  it 
cannot  be  said  that  the  extracanonical  books  add 
anything  valuable  to  om-  knowledge.  For  the  most 
part  they  supply  a  mass  of  thaumaturgical  detail 
in  marked  contrast  to  the  dignity  and  wholesome- 
ness  of  the  New  Testament  memoirs.  Jesus  is  rep- 
resented as  performing  ill-natured  miracles  on  His 
playmates  occasionally  when  they  angered  Him, 
and  indeed  as  moving  through  a  succession  of  mar- 
vels of  the  most  incredible  and  meaningless  nature. 
We  are  better  off  with  the  brief  and  reverent 

115 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

evangelic  statement  that  He  "increased  in  wisdom 
and  stature,  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man."  We 
are  meant  to  understand  from  this  testimony,  no 
doubt,  that  He  lived  a  natural,  gracious,  unfolding 
human  life  in  Joseph  the  carpenter's  house  in  the 
little  Galilean  city  which  is  forever  to  be  associated 
with  His  name.  The  Xazareth  of  to-day  is  a 
poorer  and  meaner  place  than  it  was  in  the  pros- 
perous times  of  the  Caesars.  As  Galilee  was  a  flour- 
ishing province,  permeated  by  Grasco-Roman  life 
and  manners  it  is  a  fair  inference  that  Nazareth 
partook  of  the  general  conditions  which  followed 
order  and  good  government  as  unlike  as  possible 
to  the  misrule  which  had  prevailed  in  the  same  reg- 
ion for  centuries  past.  In  the  synagogue  which  was 
at  once  a  place  of  worship,  a  court  of  local  law,  and 
perhaps  a  school,  Jesus  would  receive  His  first  in- 
struction in  the  history  and  faith  of  the  race  to 
which  He  belonged.  How  strange  to  picture  Him 
sitting  in  company  with  children  of  His  own  age 
listening  to  what  the  rabbis  had  to  say  in  that  plain 
unadorned  meeting  place  so  like  the  Nonconformist 
chapel  of  our  own  time!  The  centralization 
of  worship  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  had 
given  a  great  local  importance  to  the  synagogue 
as  providing  for  the  immediate  religious  and  social 
wants  of  the  people.  There  and  at  home  Jesus 
would  be  thoroughly  grounded  in  the  ancient  Law 
of  Israel  and  the  writings  of  the  prophets.  It  is 
plain  to  be  seen  from  His  later  public  teaching  that 
He  knew  the  Old  Testament  intimately  from  be- 
ginning to  end  and  no  doubt  also  knew  what  the 

116 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

chief  rabbinical  schools  had  to  say  of  the  books  of 
the  Jewish  Canon.  His  training  at  home  must 
have  been  still  more  valuable,  and  we  can  infer  the 
depth  and  richness  of  the  type  of  piety  maintained 
therein  from  the  qualitj^  of  the  epistle  of  James  the 
Lord's  brother.  Jesus  stands  in  a  category  by 
Himself,  and  it  is  possible  that  He  might  owe  little 
to  the  instruction  of  a  pious  mother  and  upright 
foster  father,  though  such  lives  as  theirs  would  sup- 
ply Him  with  a  fitting  spiritual  environment;  but 
in  the  case  of  James  and  the  other  inmates  of  the 
home  we  are  on  sure  ground  in  saying  that  the  debt 
to  Joseph,  if  not  also  to  Mary,  was  gi'eat.  James 
shows  by  his  allusions  the  kind  of  character  that 
was  produced  by  a  thorough  training  in  the  Old 
Testament  tradition ;  he  is  the  pious  Jew  at  his  best, 
sober,  prayerful,  reverent,  sincere.  His  animad- 
versions on  the  rich  perhaps  indicate  that  Joseph's 
family  had  come  down  in  the  world  and  had  had  to 
put  up  with  a  good  deal  at  the  hands  of  wealthy 
neighbors  who  had  acquired  their  patrimony.  That 
James  again  became  head  of  the  church  in  Jerusa- 
lem points  to  the  fact  that  their  principal  connec- 
tion was  with  the  south.  A  pure  Galilean  would 
not  be  so  suitable  in  that  position.  Sir  William 
Ramsay  has  shown  that  the  education  Jesus  re- 
ceived was  a  very  good  one  according  to  the  stand- 
ards of  the  time,  for  indeed  in  all  the  essentials  of 
a  worthy  life  the  Jewish  youth  of  that  period  might 
be  accounted  the  best  educated  in  the  world.^ 

■?■  Education  of  Christ,  p.  67. 

117 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

The  Boy  Jesus  in  Jerusalem 

Only  once  during  these  formative  years  is  the 
silence  broken.     Luke  tells  of  the  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem  at  the  Feast  of  the  Passover  when  Jesus 
was  twelve  years  old.     In  accordance  with  custom 
He  had  to  be  presented  in  the  national  sanctuary 
on  reaching  adolescence,  a  ceremonj'^  akin  to  our, 
confirmation  at  about  the  same  age.     The  present 
writer   remembers    seeing   a   number    of   children 
gathered  round  a  bishop  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  in 
1903,  receiving  instruction  and  answering  ques- 
tions, with  other  clergy  of  that  great  head  center 
of  Roman  Catholic  Christendom  standing  by,  lis- 
tening and  looking  on,  and  the  picture  instantly 
suggested  to  him  the  kind  of  scene  that  probably 
took  place  at  Jesus'  catechism  in  the  Temple.  There 
was  nothing  unusual  about  it.    He  was  there  with 
others  that  He  might  show  the  doctors  of  the  Law 
how  He  had  been  taught  and  in  His  turn  put  ques- 
tions to  them.     The}^  found  Him  so  exceptionally 
intelligent  and  well  informed  that  the  venerable 
rabbis  gathered  round  Him  with  interest.    Joseph 
and  Mary  left  Him  there  while  they  went  about 
their  own  concerns.    Most  children  would  not  have 
stayed  longer  than  was  absolutely  necessary  and 
then  would  have  rejoined  the  caravan  in  whose  com- 
pany they  had  come  up  to  the  capital.    But  Jesus 
took  His  instructions  literally  and  remained  in  the 
Temple  precincts  full  of  the  joy  of  being  in  the 
courts  of  His  Father's  house  and  hearing  of  the 
things  that  meant  more  to  Him  than  anything  else 

118 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

in  life.  Hence  His  reply  to  Mary's  gentle  reproach, 
"Thy  father  and  I  have  sought  thee  sorrowing." 
The  word  "sorrowing"  reveals  something  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  relationships  in  that  lowly  home;  the 
ties  of  affection  were  close.  The  boy's  defence  was 
fully  reasonable.  Why  should  they  seek  Him  ?  He 
had  not  been  lost.  They  might  have  known  that  He 
would  be  where  they  had  placed  Him  and  engaged 
in  the  exercise  for  which  they  had  brought  Him  to 
the  Temple  itself.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  Mary 
calls  Joseph  His  father,  but  that  in  Jesus'  reply  it 
is  a  heavenly  Father  who  is  meant.  "Wist  ye  not 
that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business?" — or, 
"in  the  things  of  my  Father"  or  "my  Father's 
house."  Where  did  the  divine  boy  learn  to  call  God 
His  Father?  He  utters  the  name  as  if  He  ex- 
pected to  be  understood  and  as  though  it  had  been 
often  on  His  lips.  Perhaps  Mary  herself  was  the 
teacher,  a  thought  full  of  beautiful  suggestiveness 
when  we  ponder  how  much  it  implies.  James  in  his 
epistle  uses  the  same  word  with  the  same  reverent 
familiarity,  and  perhaps  he  did  not  learn  it  first 
from  the  lips  of  the  brother  whom  he  had  now  come 
to  recognize  as  his  Lord.  Perhaps  both  learned  it 
from  the  same  source. 

No  mention  of  Joseph  appears  in  the  inspired 
record  from  this  time  forward,  but  that  he  lived 
until  Jesus  was  entering  upon  manhood  may  be 
inferred  from  several  facts.  One  is  the  remark  ex- 
pressing the  surprise  of  His  former  neighbors:  "Is 
not  this  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph,  whose  father  and 
mother  we  know?"    Or  on  the  occasion  of  His  first 

119 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

address  at  Nazareth:  "Is  not  this  Joseph's  son?" 
They  would  hardly  have  spoken  thus  if  Joseph  had 
been  very  long  dead,  and  yet  there  is  no  indication 
that  Joseph  was  alive  after  the  public  ministry  be- 
gan. It  is  the  mother  and  the  brethren  who  are  re- 
ferred to  on  occasion  but  never  the  supposed  father. 
In  one  instance  at  least  the  onlookers  enumerate 
the  inmates  of  the  household:  "James  and  Moses 
and  Simon  and  Judas,"  together  with  some  sisters. 
On  this  occasion  also  Jesus  is  described  as  the  son 
of  Mary,  the  name  of  Joseph  being  omitted,  and 
He  Himself  is  called  the  carpenter,  not  merely  the 
son  of  a  carpenter.  He  must  have  been  old  enough 
to  learn  His  trade  before  Joseph  died  for  the  indi- 
cations are  that  He  followed  Joseph's  calling  and 
therefore  we  may  take  for  granted  that  Joseph  was 
His  instructor. 

Jesus'  Kindred 

What  was  Jesus'  exact  relationship  to  the  other 
members  of  this  household?  It  is  evident  that  He 
was  generally  regarded  as  the  son  of  Joseph.  But 
were  these  brothers  and  sisters  of  His  the  children 
of  Joseph  and  Mary?  The  best  tradition  is  against 
this  view  and  maintains  that  they  were  the  children 
of  Joseph  by  an  earlier  marriage,  he  being  much 
older  than  Mary.^  This  would  explain  a  good  deal, 
as  for  instance  the  slowness  of  Jesus'  brothers  to 

8  Two  of  the  apocryphal  writings  already  mentioned,  Protevange- 
lium  of  James,  and  Gospel  of  Nativity  of  Mary,  both  state  that 
Joseph  was  greatly  Mary's  senior.  Origen  and  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria amongst  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  affirm  that  the  brothers 
of  Jesus  were  older  than  He  and  sons  of  Joseph  but  not  of  Mary. 

120 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

recognize  the  significance  of  His  personality,  though 
when  it  is  said  that  they  did  not  beHeve  in  Him  we 
need  not  read  more  into  the  statement  than  that 
they  had  not  j^et  associated  themselves  with  His 
fortunes  or  come  to  understand  what  He  was  seek- 
ing to  do ;  it  does  not  follow  that  they  were  actually 
hostile  or  scornful  of  His  claims  and  teaching;  it 
is  much  more  in  keeping  with  the  situation  as  thus 
portrayed  to  conclude  that  they  had  left  their 
father's  home  and  set  up  homes  of  their  own  before 
Jesus  was  of  an  age  to  impress  them  greatly,  other- 
wise it  would  be  inexplicable  that  they  could  have 
been  members  of  the  same  household  with  Him  day 
by  day  and  year  b}^  year  and  failed  to  realize  the 
transcendent  quality  of  His  nature.  That  they 
realized  it  after  the  resurrection  is  evident  from  the 
epistles  of  James  and  Jude.^  Both  of  these  brothers 
describe  themselves  as  "servants  of  Jesus  Christ.'* 
James  calls  Him  the  Lord  of  Glory.  The  earnest 
piety  and  character  of  both  men  are  revealed  in 
their  writings,  and  it  is  highly  improbable  that  they 
were  ever  to  be  found  among  Jesus'  active  op- 
ponents. It  is  noteworthy  that  they  never  refer  to 
Him  as  their  brother  but  only  as  their  Lord;  their 
attitude  towards  Him  is  exactly  that  of  the  rest  of 
the  primitive  Church,  wherein  indeed  they  did  not 
exercise  the  same  authority  as  the  apostles.  James 
the  just,  as  he  was  reverently  styled,  was  made  head 
of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  partly  perhaps  because 
of  his  relationship  to  Jesus,  but  more  likely  because 

•  The  authenticity  of  Jude  is  more  open  to  question  than  that  of 
James. 

121 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

of  his  own  gifts  of  wisdom  and  goodness.  One 
extracanonical  tradition  of  a  beautiful  character 
concerning  him  may  well  be  authentic,  namely,  that 
he  was  already  a  follower  of  Jesus  before  the  cruci- 
fixion and  was  so  convinced  of  His  Lord's  triumph 
over  death  that  he  vowed  neither  to  eat  nor  drink 
till  he  heard  of  His  resurrection,  and  that  Jesus 
knowing  this  appeared  to  him  privately  on  the  first 
Easter  T)ay  and  breaking  bread  gave  it  to  him  say- 
ing, "Eat,  my  brother,  for  the  Son  of  Man  is  risen 
from  the  dead."  ^° 

The  fact  is  worth  noting  in  the  same  connection 
that  Jesus  would  not  have  been  likely  to  commit 
His  mother  to  the  charge  of  the  beloved  disciple  if 
she  had  had  sons  of  her  own  still  living  in  the  same 
home  with  her.  Clearly  that  was  not  so.  Joseph's 
children  were  not  her  sons  and  perhaps  had  long 
had  families  of  their  own  to  support.  Jesus  in  all 
likelihood  not  only  inherited  His  foster  father's 
trade  but  continued  to  support  His  mother  and 
perhaps  His  unmarried  stepsisters  also  in  the  same 
house  after  Joseph's  death.  This  may  be  the  reason 
for  the  slight  differentiation  between  brothers  and 
sisters  in  the  comments  of  the  inhabitants  of  Naza- 
reth, "Are  not  His  sisters  here  with  us?"  The 
brothers  apparently  were  not  at  that  time  living  in 
the  old  home  or  perhaps  in  Nazareth  itself. 

Of  Jesus'  other  relatives  not  much  can  be  af- 
firmed with  confidence.  That  Mary  had  a  sister  or 
sisters  is  expressly  stated,  and  there  is  strong  tra- 
ditional support  for  the  view  already  mentioned 

1°  Gospel  According  to  the  Hebrews. 

122 


THE  NATIVITY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

that  one  of  these  sisters — perhaps  there  was  only 
one — was  the  mother  of  the  apostles  James  and 
John.  If  there  is  no  confirmation  of  this  in  the  New 
Testament  itself  at  least  there  is  nothing  to  con- 
tradict it.  James  and  John  would  be  thus  more 
nearly  related  to  Jesus  by  blood  than  the  sons  of 
Joseph  and  would  naturally  be  much  associated 
with  Him  in  childhood  and  youth — another  reason 
for  committing  the  virgin  mother  to  John's  care. 

That  John  the  Baptist  was,  though  more  dis- 
tantly, Jesus'  kinsman  we  are  informed  on  the 
authority  of  St.  Luke  who  says  that  John's  mother 
Elizabeth  was  Mary's  cousin.  And  seeing  that 
Mary  was  sufficiently  intimate  with  Elizabeth  for 
the  latter  to  be  the  first  person  she  wished  to  see 
after  the  Annunciation,  and  seeing  too  that  they 
were  both  selected  for  the  high  privilege  of  bearing 
sons  who  should  be  epoch-makers  in  the  world's  his- 
tory, the  one  as  forerunner  and  the  other  as  fulfiller, 
it  is  but  natural  to  conclude  that  they  met  at  inter- 
vals while  the  children  were  growing  up  and  that 
the  two  boys  were  well  acquainted.  This  again  ex- 
plains much.  Elizabeth,  being  already  advanced 
in  age  when  her  son  was  born,  had  in  order  of  na- 
ture, passed  away  before  the  latter's  prophetic  min- 
istry began,  but  while  she  lived  some  measure  of 
intercourse  between  the  home  at  Nazareth  and  hers 
must  have  continued.  After  Elizabeth's  death  this 
intercourse  may  have  been  less  frequent.  John 
could  not  have  come  forth  as  a  flaming  prophet 
without  long  preparation  and  that  would  involve 
a  period  of  solitary  brooding  and  self-mortification. 

123 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

All  the  evangelists  agree  that  he  was  a  denizen  of 
the  wilderness  and  something  of  an  anchorite. 
Whether  he  had  even  been  associated  with  the  com- 
munity of  the  Essenes  there  is  nothing  to  show. 
He  was  not  an  Essene ;  he  approximated  much  more 
nearly  to  the  type  of  the  ancient  prophets  and  espe- 
cially Elijah  who  was  a  man  of  like  habits  and  tem- 
perament. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ON  THE  THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 
Relations  With  John  the  Baptist 

What  did  the  Baptist  think  about  himself?  His 
own  testimony  as  preserved  in  the  evangelic  record 
shows  that  he  disclaimed  either  being  the  Messiah 
or  the  prophet  who  was  popularly  supposed  to  re- 
turn to  earth  as  the  herald  of  the  Messiah.  He 
said  he  was  neither  Christ  nor  Elijah  nor  Jeremiah. 
He  seems  to  have  regarded  himself  merely  as  a  her- 
ald of  the  Messianic  advent  which  he  had  become 
convinced  was  near  at  hand.  His  words  would  im- 
ply that  he  possibly  thought  of  himself  not  so  much 
as  the  herald  of  the  Messiah  as  the  herald  of  the 
herald.  "There  standeth  one  among  you  whom  ye 
know  not,"  etc.,  might  refer  rather  to  the  prophet 
who  was  expected  to  appear  than  to  the  Messiah 
Himself.  His  preaching  shows  that  he  believed  the 
Messiah  would  come  in  judgment.  His  message  to 
Israel  was  that  it  was  not  only  the  Gentiles  but  the 
seed  of  Abraham  who  needed  to  repent,  and  his 
words  were  stern  and  uncompromising,  especially 
in  dealing  with  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees.    He 

125 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

introduced  baptism  as  a  ceremony  indicative  of  re- 
pentance— not  that  it  was  new;  it  was  already  in 
use  as  symbolic  of  the  passing  from  one  kind  of 
life  to  another.  In  John's  use  of  it  there  was  no 
suggestion  of  a  new  life  begun  by  the  regenerating 
operation  of  the  Spirit  of  God;  the  rite  was  merely 
what  he  declared  it  to  be,  a  solemn  way  of  indi- 
cating that  the  person  undergoing  it  was  putting 
away  old  and  evil  modes  of  living  and  entering 
upon  a  new  course  of  action  more  in  accordance 
with  the  will  of  God  and  a  fitting  preparation  for 
the  impending  judgment  and  the  coming  of  the 
Kingdom.  Christian  baptism  of  course  signified 
something  more,  but  it  is  questionable  whether  bap- 
tism into  a  fellowship  of  Jesus  signified  more  dur- 
ing His  earthly  ministry.  Jesus'  disciples,  when 
He  made  disciples,  seem  to  have  been  baptized  by 
the  apostles  in  much  the  same  sense  as  John's; 
Jesus  did  not  do  any  baptizing  Himself.  But  it  is 
nowhere  stated  that  this  baptism  which  preceded  the 
passion  was  ever  repeated  afterwards  or  needed  to 
be. 

John's  relations  with  Jesus  constitute  a  problem 
which  is  yet  far  from  being  solved.  Why  Jesus 
chose  to  undergo  baptism  at  all  has  been  a  puzzle 
to  many  from  the  very  first.  He  made  no  confes- 
sion of  personal  sin  and  yet  submitted  Himself  to 
an  ordinance  which  was  stated  to  be  a  baptism  of 
repentance.  The  perplexity  thus  occasioned  would 
of  itself  be  enough  to  prove  that  the  incident  is 
historic  and  was  well  remembered  as  marking  the 
end  of  Jesus'  long  period  of  silent  preparation  for 

126 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY, 

His  mission  and  the  commencement  of  His  public 
work.  The  cousins  may  not  have  met  for  some  time 
previously.  Jesus  journeyed  south  with  the  rest 
of  the  family  to  listen  to  John's  preaching  and  to 
witness  the  phenomenal  impression  it  was  making 
through  Judea.  Perhaps  He  there  and  then  took 
the  decision  of  thus  publicly  and  solemn^  turning 
His  back  upon  His  old  quiet  life  and  entering  upon 
the  path  which  was  to  lead  Him  to  the  cross.  He 
could  not  be  other  than  deeply  moved  by  what  He 
saw  and  heard,  and  He  realized  that  the  hour  had 
come  for  Him  to  begin  what  He  must  long  have 
felt  to  be  His  mission  to  the  world.  We  may  be  sure 
that  such  a  soul  as  His  could  not  have  arrived  sud- 
denly at  the  conviction  that  He  had  something  to  do 
in  the  world  such  as  none  other  ever  had.  He  had  a 
hidden  life  with  God  into  which  we  cannot  pene- 
trate, but  everything  He  afterwards  said  or  did  in 
public  as  preserved  for  us  in  the  New  Testament 
goes  to  show  that  He  was  fully  master  of  Himself 
from  the  hour  His  ministry  began,  and  spiritually 
mature.  This  baptism  was  no  conversion ;  He  was 
already  as  completely  at  home  in  the  mysteries  of 
the  Spirit  as  He  was  ever  likely  to  be ;  He  was  only 
waiting,  and  now  He  knew  that  the  great  moment 
had  arrived.  Stepping  down  into  the  water  of  Jor- 
dan therefore  meant  something  different  to  Him 
from  what  it  did  to  those  about  Him.  It  meant  the 
closing  of  one  door  and  the  opening  of  another,  the 
end  of  the  thirty  years  of  silence  and  the  beginning 
of  the  brief  public  activity  which  has  had  a  greater 
cumulative  effect  upon  the  destinies  of  mankind 

187 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

than  the  combined  witness  of  all  other  prophets  and 
religious  masters  who  have  ever  spoken  and  wrought. 
John  appears  to  have  recognized  Him  at  once  as 
perhaps  is  not  to  be  wondered  at;  and  his  protest, 
"I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  thee  and  comest  thou 
to  me?"  maj^  have  meant  no  more  than  that  he  al- 
ready knew  full  well  the  pure  unearthly  spiritual 
quality  of  Mary's  son.  But  there  is  also  the  sug- 
gestion that  in  a  sudden  flash  of  insight  he  beheld 
in  Jesus  the  greater  than  himself — not  necessarily 
the  Messiah — whom  he  had  announced  as  coming 
after  him.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to 
John  that  he  himself  was  filling  the  role  tradition- 
ally ascribed  to  Elijah,  that  of  being  the  forerunner 
of  the  Messiah.  Who  then  did  he- perceive  Jesus 
to  be?  But  for  the  details  given  in  the  fourth  gos- 
pel we  might  conclude  that  he  thought  of  Jesus  as 
merely  the  true  herald  of  the  Kingdom ;  but  this  can 
hardly  have  been  the  fact  in  view  of  the  explicit  dec- 
laration attributed  to  Him  by  the  fourth  evangelist, 
"Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  the  world."  Could  such  a  declaration  be  his- 
toric; and  why  the  metaphor  of  a  sacrificial  lamb? 
The  most  reasonable  view  on  an  examination  of  the 
facts  is  that  John,  from  previous  knowledge  of 
Jesus  as  well  as  from  swift  intuition  at  the  moment, 
discerned  in  Him  a  being  of  wondrous  potency, 
greater  far  than  himself,  and  therefore  shrank  from 
baptizing  Him.  Both  experienced  in  the  actual  per- 
formance of  the  rite  the  mysterious  spiritual  visi- 
tation which  has  been  variously  recorded  as  the 
descent  of  the  Spirit  upon  Jesus.    But  it  was  not; 

1^ 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

until  after  the  latter's  return  from  the  wilderness 
and  after  further  conference  between  the  two  that 
Jesus  revealed  Himself  to  the  Baptist  as  the  Mes- 
siah. John  may  have  been  quite  prepared  for  the 
revelation,  but  the  indications  are  that  it  was  made 
after  the  temptation  and  not  before.  Such  indeed 
is  suggested  by  the  form  of  John's  announcement; 
for  it  was  not  until  Jesus  had  gone  through  the 
ordeal  in  the  wilderness  that  the  nature  of  His  Mes- 
siahship  was  fully  settled  in  His  own  mind.  He 
definitely  put  aside  all  idea  of  political  leadership 
and  based  His  conception  of  INIessiahship  upon  the 
idea  of  the  Suffering  Servant  of  God  as  portrayed 
in  the  second  Isaiah,  the  chosen  one  who  suffers 
for  the  sins  of  his  people  and  whose  sufferings  have 
a  redemptive  efficacy.^  In  His  forty  days'  lonely 
vigil  He  definitely  chose  a  suffering  Messiahship 
as  His  lot  and  the  Father's  will — at  least  until  its 
earthly  consummation  in  the  sacrifice  of  Himself 
as  the  paschal  lamb  slain  for  the  sins  of  the  world. 
If  this  be  not  admitted  the  character  of  Jesus'  min- 
istry is  inexplicable,  and  we  are  not  taking  too  much 
for  granted.  The  word  Messiah  was  a  rather  vague 
term,  connoting  many  different  things  to  those  who 
were  accustomed  to  use  it.  Jesus  could  have  dis- 
pensed with  it.  He  adopted  it  because  He  found  it 
at  work  as  the  symbol  of  God's  appointed  repre- 
sentative through  whom  the  regeneration  of  the 
world  was  to  take  place.  What  was  really  impor- 
tant was  the  latter  expectation,  not  yet  fulfilled  in 

1  For  the  "Servant"  passages  in  Isaiah  consult  G.  A.  Smith  in  Ex- 
positor's Bible. 

129 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

its  entirety,  the  establishment  of  God's  Kingdom 
among  men.  Jesus  submitted  to  convention  in  re- 
garding Himself  as  the  anointed  one  through  whom 
this  change  was  to  come  about,  and  He  did  not  err ; 
His  advent  has  meant  far  more  to  mankind  than 
that  of  the  Messiah  of  Jewish  expectation  would 
ever  have  done.  Wliat  was  original  to  Him  in  so 
doing  was  His  association  of  the  idea  of  Messiah- 
ship  with  that  of  the  Suffering  Servant.  This  was 
striking,  impressive,  un-Jewish,  and  went  straight 
in  the  teeth  of  popular  conceptions  of  the  Messianic 
office. 

Did  He  succeed  in  making  John  understand  it? 
It  would  appear  so  if  the  fourth  gospel  is  to  be 
credited;  otherwise  we  are  unable  to  account  for 
the  expression  "Lamb  of  God"  which  is  quite  in 
place  if  Jesus  had  explained  to  His  cousin  the  fore- 
runner the  result  of  His  battle  with  the  tempter 
and  the  reasons  for  His  choice.  John  may  have 
found  difficulty  in  assimilating  it,  for  it  must  have 
gone  counter  to  his  own  prepossessions  as  illustrated 
in  his  discourses.  For  him,  no  more  than  for  his 
contemporaries,  could  the  Messiah  be  a  sufferer. 
There  is  just  the  possibility  that  the  word  Messiah 
was  not  used  between  them;  nowhere  is  the  state- 
ment made  that  it  was;  and  the  Baptist's  descrip- 
tion of  Jesus  as  the  Lamb  of  God  may  have  been  no 
more  than  a  metaphorical  allusion  to  the  character 
of  His  coming  ministry.  This  is  unlikely,  however. 
The  phrase  is  too  august  to  admit  of  any  lower  in- 
terpretation and  implies  too  much.  On  the  other 
hand  it  did  not  necessarily  convey  to  anyone  else 

13*0 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY, 

the  belief  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah.  Messiahship 
and  sacrifice  were  too  distinct  for  that  in  the  minds 
of  John's  hearers. 

The  view  that  the  fourth  gospel  account  of  this 
episode  is  unhistoric,  and  that  it  was  because  of  the 
success  of  Jesus'  ministry  that  John  afterwards 
sent  to  ask  Him,  "Art  thou  He  that  should  come  or 
look  we  for  another?"  is  untenable  on  several 
grounds.  Tradition  is  wholly  against  it  as  is  psy- 
chological probabilit5^  But  the  question  might  con- 
ceivably mean,  Was  Jesus  Himself  the  forerunner 
or  not?  This  is  perhaps  how  it  was  understood  by 
John's  disciples  who  brought  the  message,  for  it 
was  only  there  and  then  that  Jesus  pronounced  the 
Baptist  to  have  fulfilled  the  part  of  Elijah  towards 
the  new  disjDensation.  One  fact  which  emerges 
clearly  from  a  careful  study  of  the  gospel  narrative 
is  that  neither  John  nor  Jesus  ever  made  specific 
public  claims  for  themselves  in  relation  to  Mes- 
sianic prophecy. 

The  attitude  of  John's  followers  to  those  of  Jesus 
remains  a  problem  of  which  as  yet  there  is  no  full 
and  complete  solution.  A  hint  is  given  us  indeed 
that  at  an  early  stage  in  the  ministry  of  the  latter 
John's  disciples  were  jealous  of  His  influence  and 
also  condemned  His  greater  laxity  on  the  subject 
of  fasting.  But  after  John's  very  specific  declara- 
tion of  the  transcendent  significance  of  Jesus  it  is 
puzzling  to  find  that  John's  following  seems  to  have 
remained  separate  from  that  of  the  ISIaster.  After 
the  intrepid  Baptist's  death  they  came  to  Jesus  with 
the  information  but  do  not  appear  to  have  associ- 

131 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

ated  themselves  with  Him  forthwith  as  one  would 
expect.  They  appear  to  have  held  together  then 
and  afterwards,  for  as  a  fellowship  they  continued 
for  a  time  even  after  the  crucifixion  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Christian  Church.  Then,  too,  there 
is  the  saying  of  Jesus  to  be  accounted  for,  that  he 
that  was  least  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  was 
greater  than  John,  albeit  no  greater  than  John  had 
ever  arisen.  We  can  only  conclude  that  to  Jesus 
the  new  law  and  the  new  life,  imparted  by  Him  to 
those  willing  and  able  to  receive  them,  were  held 
to  be  an  immeasurably  higher  blessing  than  had 
ever  otherwise  been  experienced;  and  in  this  view 
Christian  history  will  sustain  Him.  Humanity 
made  a  new  start  from  Jesus,  not  from  John  or  from 
any  other  than  John. 

The  Spikitual  Crisis  Following  the  Baptism 

In  the  light  of  the  foregoing  the  episode  of  the 
Temptation  is  not  so  mysterious  as  it  has  often  been 
made  to  ajDpear,  nor  is  there  any  justification  for 
the  theory  that  it  was  a  transference  into  Christian 
story  of  the  mythical  ordeals  said  to  have  been  en- 
dured by  other  great  personages,  notably  Buddha. 
What  could  be  humanly  more  natural  than  that  af- 
ter the  illumination  received  at  the  Jordan  Jesus 
should  wish  to  go  away  by  Himself  to  think  out 
what  was  now  before  Him  and  the  course  on  which 
His  career  must  be  shaped  ?  Nor  would  the  experi- 
ence be  entirely  subjective.^     If  there  be  forces  of 

2  Gore :   Dissertations   on  Subjects   Connected   with   the  Incarna- 
tion, p.  23  ff. 

132 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

evil  in  the  spiritual  universe  as  well  as  good — and 
who  would  deny  it? — it  is  certain  that  they  would 
assail  the  soul  of  one  so  transcendently  great  as 
Jesus  upon  whose  will  at  this  time  such  momentous 
decisions  hung;  all  future  history  waited  upon  this 
fateful  hour,  for  if  Jesus  had  chosen  differently 
nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  whole  direc- 
tion of  modern  civilization  would  have  been  other 
than  it  is.  The  change  wrought  by  the  impact  of 
Christianity  upon  the  world  may  be  exaggerated  in 
the  mind  of  Christians — pace  Gibbon — but  that 
there  has  been  a  change,  and  an  enormous  change 
too,  resulting  from  the  combined  influence  of  the 
Gospel  and  the  Church  few  would  deny.  Did  Jesus 
know  this  beforehand?  Whether  He  did  or  not 
scarcely  matters.  Heaven  knew  it;  perhaps  hell 
knew  it;  the  tremendous  nature  of  the  spiritual 
crisis  involved  could  not  have  been  hidden  from  the 
plane  or  planes  whereon  are  the  springs  of  most 
of  the  spiritual  forces  that  affect  humanity  for  good 
or  ill.  The  will  of  Jesus  at  the  beginning  of  His 
ministry  was  the  storm  center  of  a  conflict  of  forces 
just  as  it  was  at  the  end,  and  as  perhaps  in  some 
degree  every  human  life  is  also.  Limited  as  we  are 
limited  in  knowledge  and  power,  though  not  to  the 
same  extent.  He  found  Himself  tempted  to  com- 
promise with  His  own  highest  vision  for  specious 
reasons.  The  order  of  the  temptations  is  differ- 
ently given  in  INIatthew  and  Luke,  but  the  discrep- 
ancy is  not  important.  The  whole  story  is  plainly 
symbolical  and  must  have  been  told  by  Jesus  Him- 
self to  those  in  His  intimate  confidence.    After  2^ 

133 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

long  fast — which  does  not  necessarily  mean  entire 
abstinence  from  food  but  only  the  taking  of  suf- 
ficient to  sustain  life — in  His  weakened  physical 
condition  the  thought  came  to  Him  that  He  never 
need  undergo  privation;  He  need  not  share  in  the 
disabilities  of  ordinary  humanity  in  anything;  He 
had  somehow  become  aware — when  or  how  is  im- 
material— that  He  possessed  a  certain  power  over 
nature;  why  should  He  not  use  it  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  His  own  creature  wants?  There  was  the 
further  suggestion  thus  conveyed  that  throughout 
His  earthy  ministry  He  might  exercise  this  sover- 
eignty in  the  interest  of  His  mission;  He  need 
never  suffer ;  His  outward  man  need  know  nothing 
of  what  the  sons  of  men  are  habitually  called  upon 
to  endure  of  the  struggle  to  live.  His  answer  might 
also  be  ours,  the  answer  of  the  spirit  to  the  flesh  at 
all  times.  "Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 
by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of 
God."  Not  first  that  which  is  of  earth  but  that 
which  is  of  heaven  should  be  the  object  of  our 
quest — the  body  for  the  soul,  not  the  soul  for 
the  body. 

The  metaphorical  significance  of  the  other  two 
temptations  is  apparent  on  the  face  of  them.  Jesus 
was  not  literally  transported  either  to  a  pinnacle  of 
the  Temple  or  to  a  mountain  of  such  a  height  that  a 
view  could  be  obtained  therefrom  of  the  entire  in- 
habited earth.  But  the  question  was  thrust  upon 
Him  whether  it  would  ever  be  right  to  put  God  to 
the  test,  as  it  were,  by  venturing  that  which  might 

134 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRYj 

bring  others  to  destruction.^  Was  God  necessarily 
bound  to  save  Him  from  ruin  and  disaster  if  with 
no  higher  motive  He  presumed  upon  His  unique 
consciousness  of  vocation  and  sonship  ?  Again  the 
answer  was  that  He  could  be  guilty  of  no  such  pre- 
sumption. No  more  morally  than  physically  would 
He  put  forth  claims  that  could  not  be  honored  in 
the  case  of  ordinary  men;  He  asked  for  no  im- 
munity from  such  trial  and  sorrow  as  was  the  por- 
tion of  the  race. 

Lastly  there  came  to  Him  the  temptation  to 
which  so  many  lesser  masters  have  succumbed,  the 
temptation  to  win  secular  power,  to  accommodate 
Himself  to  men's  baser  motives  that  He  might  rule 
them  for  their  own  good.  And  easily  He  might 
have  done  it,  as  easily  as  Mahomet  did  afterwards 
or  the  Maccabees  had  done  before  Him.  There  was 
that  in  Jesus  which  could  have  swayed  men  im- 
perially had  He  so  chosen ;  He  could  have  aroused 
all  the  fanatical  heart  of  Israel  and  been  the  founder 
of  a  mighty  empire  driving  that  of  Rome  from  the 
Orient  had  He  made  His  Messiahship  of  that  or- 
der. It  was  the  kind  of  Messiahship  the  Jews 
wanted,  passionately  longed  and  prayed  for,  and 
He  could  have  fulfilled  all  their  hopes  and  more. 
This  is  not  mere  speculation  but  sober  sense.  Jesus 
could  have  swept  the  Roman  eagles  from  Palestine 
and  been  the  founder  of  a  secular  empire  which 
might  have  challenged  that  of  the  Caesars.     The 

?  Edersheim :  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah  gives  another 
and  striking  though  more  literal  view.  But  from  any  standpoint 
the  meaning  of  Jesus'  choice  in  this  instance  is  that  He  would  not 
gain  spiritual  ends  by  unspiritual  means. 

135 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

material  was  all  ready  to  His  hand;  the  conditions 
were  favorable;  the  people  only  waited  for  a  leader; 
and  He  was  not  as  other  men.  He  knew  it,  but 
He  would  not.  His  Kingdom  was  not  of  this 
world. 

The  Good  News  of  the  Kingdom 

Wlmt  then  was  His  Kingdom?     Here  we  are 
on  very  debatable  ground.     There  are  authorities 
who  maintain  that  His  ideas  on  the  subject  were 
not  widely  different  from  those  of  His  contempo- 
raries of  His  own  race  but  that  He  waited  for  su- 
pernatural intervention,  believing  that  a  crash  was 
imminent  in  human  affairs,  that  all  His  hopes  were 
centered  on  the  future  and  the  sudden  and  catas- 
trophic intervention  of  heaven  to  bring  the  estab- 
lished order  to  an  end.    It  must  be  admitted  that 
there  are  passages  in  His  recorded  teaching  which 
go  some  way  to  support  this  view,  but  it  is  equally 
clear  that  these  do  not  serve  to  demonstrate  it. 
Briefly  put  it  may  be  said  that  in  the  thought  of 
Jesus  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  eternal  hfe  implied 
each  other.     By  the  former  He  meant  the  super- 
natural order,  that  state  in  which  God  and  His 
angels  dwell,  the  realm  of  all-perfection;  and  by 
the  latter  He  meant  the  life  proper  to  that  state, 
life  as  it  is  lived  in  heaven,  timeless  life.    He  spoke 
indifferently  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  or  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  because  to  Him  either  phrase  meant 
that  state  wherein  the  will  of  God  was  the  only 
rule  and  to  which  complete  obedience  was  rendered; 

136 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

in  a  word  He  meant  the  sumnium  honum  of  which 
all  great  dreamers  have  dreamed,  the  eternally  real 
which  is  also  the  ideally  perfect,  the  good  to  which 
nothing  can  be  added,  that  which  is  as  contrasted 
with  all  that  merely  seems.  If  we  start  from  this 
point  of  view  regarding  the  mind  of  Jesus  on  the 
central  theme  of  His  discourses  the  rest  clears  itself 
as  we  go  along.  To  Him  the  Kingdom  was  always 
present  in  its  fullness  in  heaven  but  also  in  some 
degree  on  earth.  It  was  present  wherever  any  hu- 
man heart  was  willingly  yielded  to  God  or  in  any 
human  deed  which  glorified  God.  But  in  an  un- 
ideal  world  such  as  ours  it  could  only  be  frag- 
mentarily  present  at  the  best,  therefore  He  bade 
His  followers  look  to  the  future  for  its  complete 
realization  "in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  ^  The  ordi- 
nary Jewish  dream  of  a  restored  kingdom  of  Israel 
was  not  this.  It  was  mainly  political.  An  op- 
pressed race,  they  looked  back  to  a  dim  glorious 
past,  to  the  great  daj^s  of  David  and  Solomon  when 
Israel  reached  its  greatest  height  of  material  splen- 
dor and  bade  fair  to  be  a  political  power  of  much 
magnitude  like  some  of  its  neighbors  which  had 
risen  from  beginnings  as  small.  For  ages  these 
people  had  had  to  serve  foreign  masters  but  had 
never  given  up  their  cherished  hope.  They  not 
only  believed  that  they  would  have  their  own  king- 
dom again  with  its  capital  on  Mount  Zion  but  that 
it  would  be  to  the  rest  of  the  earth  what  Rome  was 
just  then.     They  believed  that  a  great  king  born 

^Wendt:   Teaching   of  Jesus,  Vol.   II,   chap,  vii, — Conditions  of 
Membership  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

137 


THE   LIFE   OF   CHRIST 

of  David's  line  would  arise  and  play  the  part  of  a 
greater  Caesar.  He  would  rule  over  a  world-wide 
federation  of  peoples,  and  the  Jews  were  to  be  a 
privileged  imperial  race/  This  reconstituted  king- 
dom of  Israel  was  to  be  a  veritable  Kingdom  of 
God,  a  kingdom  of  justice  and  righteousness,  a 
kingdom  of  happiness  and  universal  peace  under 
the  rule  of  God's  vicegerent,  the  heaven-sent  de- 
liverer, the  Messiah-King  of  prophecy. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  say  by  what  proportion 
of  the  nation  this  belief  was  firmly  held  at  the  time 
Jesus  began  His  ministry.  Dr.  Glover  ^  thinks  it 
was  not  very  large,  but  if  he  be  right  it  is  remark- 
able that  the  expectation  as  shown  in  the  New 
Testament  should  have  been  so  generally  known 
and  so  intense.  It  is  only  what  we  might  expect  in 
a  high-spirited  people  with  an  ancient  religio- 
political  tradition.  They  could  not  acquiesce  in  the 
Roman  dominion,  and  it  was  but  natural  that  they 
should  be  looking  eagerly  for  the  appearance  of 
some  great  national  leader  to  throw  off  the  hated 
yoke  and  restore  their  independence  if  no  more. 

The  Kingdom  and  the  Messiah 

But  that  the  Messianic  expectation  should  be  as 
clear-cut  as  their  belief  in  coming  deliverance  from 
Roman  overlordship  is  unlikely,  and  hence  the  per- 
sonality of  the  deliverer  afforded  a  fruitful  theme 
for  religious  fancy  and  speculation.  At  certain  pe- 
riods  the   Kingdom   occupies   the   foreground   of 

^  Schaff :  History  of  the  Church,  Vol.  I,  p.  155. 
^JesUs  of  History. 

13d 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

popular  thought  and  httle  is  said  of  the  Messiah; 
at  other  times  expectation  centers  on  the  figure  of 
the  Messiah  and  only  on  the  Kingdom  as  His  King- 
dom. Originally  the  king,  any  king  of  Israel,  was 
a  Messiah — that  is,  an  anointed  one — in  virtue  of 
his  kingly  office;  hence  restored  kingship  would  of 
itself  imply  Messiahship.  As  time  went  on,  and 
the  hope  of  an  heir  to  David's  throne  declined,  the 
national  desire  for  restored  autonomy  took  the  form 
of  thinking  of  God  Himself  as  the  deliverer-king 
of  His  people,  and  any  instrument  He  chose  for 
that  deliverance  could  rightly  be  regarded  as  a  Mes- 
siah for  the  specific  purpose.  Thus  Cjtus  the  Per- 
sian is  described  as  God's  JMessiah  for  the  deliv- 
erance of  the  Jews  from  Babylon,  though  he  him- 
self did  not  know  it.''  The  Israel  of  that  period  was 
in  the  conception  of  the  second  Isaiah  the  Suffering 
Servant  whose  function  it  should  be  to  witness  God 
to  the  nations.  But  for  some  time  before  Jesus 
came  Apocalyptic  had  been  reviving  and  developing 
the  idea  of  a  personal  JNIessiah  who  was  to  be  God's 
instrument  for  the  deliverance  of  His  people  from 
the  oppressor  by  a  mighty  hand.  Hence  we  have 
a  most  confusing  series  of  oracular  declarations  of 
the  function  and  character  of  this  being;  these  are 
anything  but  mutually  consistent,  but  the  fact  that 
there  were  so  many  of  them  is  sufficient  to  show 
that  there  was  a  large  public  which  dwelt  fondly 
and  piously  upon  this  rekindled  hope  of  a  new  and 
better  world-order  to  be  inaugurated  by  one  who 
should  be  divinely  raised  up  for  that  work.    Jesus 

■^  Isaiah  xlv.  1-5. 

139 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

must  have  been  familiar  with  this  hterature  or  with 
a  considerable  part  of  it.  His  use  of  terms  would 
suggest  this,  and  the  whole  coloring  of  His  picture 
of  the  future  is  a  similar  indication. 

But  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Messiah 
as  portrayed  in  such  popular  writings  as  the  book 
of  Enoch  was  after  all  but  an  idea,  not  an  actuality, 
and  ne\  er  a  very  self-consistent  idea.  It  is  well  to 
bear  this  in  mind  when  the  question  is  raised 
whether  Jesus  was  the  Messiah;  the  problem  is. 
Which  Messiah? — the  Messiah  of  the  Psalms  of 
Solomon  or  that  of  Enoch,  or  neither?  That  He 
was  not  and  never  intended  to  be  the  Jewish  Mes- 
siah in  the  sense  of  a  leader  of  insurrection  against 
Roman  rule  is  abundantly  evident^  both  from  His 
acts  and  utterances.  That  question,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  settled  at  the  Temptation.  But  that  His 
view  of  Messiahship  had  affinities  with  Apocalyptic 
is  equally  evident  to  those  familiar  with  what  re- 
mains of  the  latter. 

Jesus  and  Messiahship 

The  question  why  Jesus  chose  to  identify  Himself 
with  the  vague  figure  of  the  Messiah  of  Jewish 
national  expectation  is  not  an  easy  one  to  answer. 
It  was  the  Messiah  of  Apocalyptic  upon  whom  He 
seems  to  have  centered  His  thought,  not  that  of  the 
native-born  prince  of  the  nationalistic  hopes;  and 
there  is  a  considerable  difference  between  the  two. 
The  latter  was  simply  to  be  a  man  specially  raised 
up  for  the  work  of  freeing  Israel  from  her  oppres- 

140 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY; 

sors,  a  greater  Judas  Maccabeus  but  gaining  his 
end  by  much  the  same  means ;  the  former  might  be 
anything,  so  many  things  were  imagined  and  de- 
clared about  him.  The  apocalyptic  "s^Titers  assigned 
tremendous  functions  to  Him.  His  glorious  advent 
was  to  mark  the  end  of  the  age  and  the  beginning  of 
an  entirely  new  dispensation  involving  a  drastic 
all-round  renewal  wherein  the  whole  creation  was 
to  share.  This  was  to  be  preceded  by  a  general 
judgment  in  which  those  who  had  wrought  harm 
to  Israel  were  to  be  called  to  account ;  then  the  va- 
rious world-powers  were  to  be  overthrown  at  a 
stroke  and  the  IMessiah  was  to  reign  in  their  stead. 
He  was  affirmed  to  be  a  preexistent  being  who 
would  appear  in  the  fullness  of  the  time  ( vide  Apoc. 
of  Baruch  iv.  3  and  lix.  4;  and  Assumption  of 
Moses  i.  14-17) .  He  was  referred  to  under  differ- 
ent names — the  Restorer,  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Son 
of  God,  the  Son  of  David,  etc.  Criticism  is  not 
yet  fully  agreed  about  the  exact  sense  in  which 
Jesus  adopted  the  title  Son  of  Man  as  descriptive 
of  Himself.  It  could  not  have  been  universally  un- 
derstood in  a  Messianic  sense,  for  nothing  is  more 
apparent  in  the  synoptic  record  than  that  He  did 
not  at  first  intend  His  claim  to  Messiahship  to  be 
generally  kno^vn.  Son  of  Man  was  a  Messianic 
title  from  the  time  of  the  Maccabees  onward  though 
with  a  somewhat  indeterminate  connotation  as  des- 
ignating either  a  person  or  a  people,  the  latter  prin- 
cipally. But  in  the  book  of  Enoch  it  is  used  to  sig- 
nify a  personal  JNIessiah,  a  Man  from  heaven.  Had 
Jesus  read  Enoch?    The  conclusion  that  He  had  is 

141 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

almost  irresistible,  but  tbere  is  no  evidence  that  the 
people  who  formed  His  audiences  were  equally  fa- 
miliar with  it.  The  point  has  been  stressed  that  in 
the  Aramaic  dialect  the  words  "man"  and  "son  of 
man"  are  the  same.^  But  why  then  is  the  term 
never  translated  into  the  Greek  of  the  gospels  as 
"man"  only?  The  evangelists  agree,  so  far  as  we 
can  judge,  that  Jesus  gave  it  a  personal  and  Mes- 
sianic signification  and  used  it  consistently  to  indi- 
cate Himself.  The  Messianic  implications  of  this 
self-designation  would  not  be  apparent  to  others 
until  He  chose  to  make  them  so  which  was  not  until 
near  the  end  of  His  ministry. 

The  simplest  conclusion  to  w^hich  we  can  come 
from  an  examination  of  the  evidence  in  our  pos- 
session is  that  from  the  first  Jesus  thought  of  Him- 
self as  the  Messiah,  but  in  a  larger  and  higher  sense 
than  had  hitherto  been  understood.  He  purposely 
refrained  at  first  from  declaring  Himself  the  Mes- 
siah lest  He  should  mislead  His  hearers  into  think-» 
ing  of  Him  as  what  He  was  not,  and  thus  vitiate 
His  spiritual  work  at  the  very  outset.  But  the  chief 
reason  on  the  other  hand  why  He  did  think  it  worth 
while  to  regard  His  mission  in  this  light  was  that, 
He  saw  that  all  the  spiritual  hope  of  Israel  had 
come  to  be  centered  upon  the  advent  of  a  Deliverer, 
a  representative  of  the  Most  High,  for  whom  the 
name  Messiah  was  the  only  and  accepted  name 
though  it  was  made  to  cover  so  many  different 
things.    Above  all  it  stood  for  a  supernatural  per- 

8  Notably  by  Lietzmann  (1896)  in  an  essay  which  first  forced  the 
question  upon  scholars  generally. 

142 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRYj 

son  in  the  language  of  Apocalyptic,  for  one  who 
should  be  at  once  both  sovereign  and  judge  acting 
in  the  name  of  God.  The  Messiah  is  so  presented 
in  Enoch  and  in  the  Sib^dline  Oracles  (iii.  625). 
Hence  His  use  of  the  title  Son  of  IMan  could  only- 
have  meant  that  He  knew  Himself  to  fulfill  all 
these  anticipations;  He  was  the  INIan  from  heaven 
who  had  yet  to  be  revealed.  In  the  meantime  He 
had  to  work  and  suffer. 

The  expression  Son  of  God  had  not  necessarily 
the  same  ^Messianic  significance,  though  it  is  so  used 
in  Enoch  and  fourth  Ezra.  Evidently  Jesus'  use 
of  it  as  applied  to  Himself  exasperated  the  Phari- 
sees and  the  Temple  authorities,  but  not  because 
of  its  JNIessianic  implications ;  they  probably  recog- 
nized that  in  so  describing  Himself  He  claimed  a 
special  relationship  with  divine  being. 

Son  of  David  is  easier  to  understand.  Jesus' 
descent  from  David  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
seriously  challenged  at  the  beginnings  of  Chris- 
tianity. Perhaps  the  favorite  Pharisaic  title  for 
the  Messiah  was  Son  of  David  because  this  sect 
ardently  desired  that  a  prince  of  David's  line  should 
come  to  sit  on  David's  throne.  The  Pharisaic 
Psalms  of  Solomon  contain  the  plainest  expression 
of  this  hope.  But  it  was  in  Judea  only  that  the 
descent  of  the  JNIessiah-king  from  David  was  prin- 
cipally cherished;  the  aspiration  did  not  exist  else- 
where to  anything  like  the  same  extent.  The 
Psalms  of  Solomon  lay  stress  upon  the  fact  that 
He  was  to  be  world-ruler  and  judge.  Concerning 
the  manner  of  His  manifestation  the  Apocalyptic 

143 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

writers  have  much  to  say  (vide  Apoc.  of  Barueh 
xxix.  3  and  II  Esdras  vii.  28).  Some  said  that 
He  was  already  in  the  world  but  in  concealment 
owing  to  the  iniquity  of  the  people.  It  was  uni- 
versally believed  that  His  advent  would  be  specially 
heralded.  He  was  to  regather  the  scattered  rem- 
nant of  Israel  to  Jerusalem  and  restore  the  Temple 
(Psalms  of  Solomon  xvii.  33) .  He  was  to  destroy 
the  Roman  empire  and  establish  the  Kingdom  of 
God  upon  its  ruins  (II  Esdras  xii.  31-33;  Apoc.  of 
Barueh  xxix.  9;  Psalms  of  Solomon  xvii.  22-25). 

How  far  Jesus  ever  thought  of  Himself  as  ful- 
filling these  various  and  diverse  functions  it  would 
be  impossible  to  say.  All  that  stands  out  definitely 
from  His  words  and  still  more  from  His  course  of 
action  is  that  He  knew  Himself  to  be  the  Chosen 
and  Anointed  One,  coming  from  above,  who  was 
destined  to  be  God's  instrument  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  salvation  to  mankind  in  all  its  aspects. 
He  was  conscious  of  being  sent  into  this  world  for 
a  specific  object  while  belonging  essentially  to  a 
higher. 

Mystery  of  Jesus'  Self-knowledge 

The  consciousness  of  Jesus  constitutes  a  problem 
which  we  can  onlj^  reverently  approach  without  pro- 
fessing to  be  able  completely  to  solve  it.  That  He 
was  conscious  of  standing  in  a  unique  relationship 
to  God  is  evident  from  the  testimony  of  all  the 
gospels.  His  superhuman  quality  is  as  strongly 
presumed  in  the  synoptical  gospels  as  in  the  fourth 

144 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY] 

though  less  is  directly  said  about  it;  there  is  no  war- 
rant for  saying  that  the  synoptics  present  us  with 
a  purely  human  Christ  and  the  fourth  with  a  divine. 
The  first  intimation  of  a  unique  quality  in  Jesus' 
self-consciousness  is  given  in  His  reply  to  His 
mother  in  Luke  ii.  49  though  it  is  possible  to  ex- 
plain it  as  the  result  of  Mary's  own  teachng  about 
Israel's  God.  Also  whatever  happened  at  the  bap- 
tism there  is  no  doubt  but  that  His  divine  sonship 
was  present  to  His  knowledge  from  that  moment 
though  it  does  not  follow  that  He  was  not  thor- 
oughly aware  of  it  before.  The  Gnostic  glosses  up- 
on this  saying  have  no  historic  justification  nor  is 
there  any  ground  for  the  argument  that  it  was  in 
the  waters  of  Jordan  that  Jesus  received  the  special 
illumination  and  endowment  which  made  Him  the 
receptacle  of  divine  life  and  power  above  all  other 
men ;  ^  indeed  one  of  the  most  remarkable  things 
about  the  record  of  His  life  is  that  from  first  to 
last  it  contains  no  trace  of  what  we  should  call 
spiritual  development;  He  is  mature  from  the  day 
He  first  appears  in  public,  sure  of  Himself  and 
His  heavenly  Father,  strong,  calm,  authoritative  in 
His  declaration  of  the  divine  word.  Throughout 
He  adopts  an  attitude  towards  God  which  no  other 
has  ever  dared  to  do  and  yet  He  does  it  with  sane 
dignity  and  perfect  collectedness,  not  as  a  self-de- 
luded visionary  might  who  in  his  madness  had  come 
to  imagine  himself  divine.^"  He  speaks  of  the  Son 
as  revealing  the  Father  (Matt.  xi.  27)  in  a  classical 

^  As  in  apocryphal  Gospel  of  the  Twelve  Apostles. 
if^Liddon:  Bampton  Lectures  on  Our  Lord's  Divinity,  Lect.  IV. 

145 


.     .    ;    THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

passage  as  pronounced  in  its  Christology  as  any- 
thing to  be  found  in  John,  and  evidently  He  means 
Himself  though  the  third  person  is  used.    It  is  the 
same  in  the  parable  of  the  wicked  husbandmen 
where  this  unique  sonship  is  affirmed  as  at  once  ful- 
filling and  exceeding  all  the  witness  of  the  prophets. 
In  John  V.  18  He  makes  Himself  equal  with  God, 
if  this  be  what  we  are  to  understand  by  the  force  of 
the  passage;  the  same  is  plain  enough  in  John  x.  30, 
"I  and  my  Father  are  one,"  and  even  more  impres- 
sively in  His  reply  to  Philip  in  the  upper  room. 
Again  and  again  He  declares  that  He  comes  from 
and  will  return  to  God  (John  vi.  38,  46,  62;  vii.  28, 
33,  36;  viii.  14,  18,  26,  42).    With  astonishing  con- 
sistency He  always  distinguishes  in  His  references 
to  God  between  His  own  sonship  and  that  of  others. 
Instead  of  saying  our  Father  it  is  constantly,  "My 
Father  and  your  Father"  or  "When  we  pray  say 
our  Father."    He  claims  that  only  He  had  seen  the 
Father  (John  vi.  46) ;  others  must  see  the  Father 
through  Him   (Luke  x.  22,  etc.).     He  was  con- 
scious of  His  own  preexistence  (John  iii.  13  and 
xvii.  5),  and  is  equally  explicit  about  His  own  fu- 
ture coming  in  glory  to  judge  the  world   (Matt. 
xxv.  31  ff.,  Mark  viii.  38).    There  is  nothing  more 
notable  in  all  history  than  this  astounding  combina- 
tion of  self-assertion  with  utmost  humility.     He 
claims  a  personal  homage  outstripping  anything 
that  the  mightiest  master  of  men  has  ever  dared  to 
demand  and  does  it  as  of  right;  He  is  not  irritated 
when  it  is  withheld,  being  so  sure  of  Himself;  but 
He  identifies  the  supreme  good  for  every  individual 

146 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

with  a  submission  to  Himself  which  is  without 
parallel  except  as  given  to  God.  He  states  that  He 
is  greater  than  David,  Abraham,  Solomon,  the 
Temple,  the  Sabbath,  and  the  Law;  men's  greatest 
self-offering  is  that  which  is  made  to  Him  and  for 
His  sake ;  and  yet  He  Himself  is  the  servant  of  all 
(Matt.  V.  11,  22,  28,  34;  vii.  21,  22,  28,  29;  viii. 
4,  10,  22;  X.  15,  22,  32,  37-39,  etc.,  etc.) .  He  never 
doubted,  hesitated,  or  wondered  if  He  might  be 
mistaken  in  regard  to  the  truth  of  what  He  taught ; 
He  knew  with  an  immediate  assurance  that  had 
nothing  in  it  of  speculation  or  inference.  He  never 
exhibits  the  slightest  consciousness  of  wrongdoing, 
and  there  is  only  one  passage  which  is  even  sus- 
ceptible of  being  interpreted  as  a  confession  of  im- 
perfection." Remorse  and  fear  form  no  part  of  His 
experience ;  He  asserts  an  unbounded  moral  author- 
ity which  is  fully  justified  by  the  impression  made 
by  His  character  on  those  who  knew  Him  best  and 
enjoyed  His  intimacy.  The  test  of  daily  compan- 
ionship which  with  others  would  have  revealed 
weaknesses  only  deepened  the  awe  and  reverence 
which  His  friends  felt  for  Him.  That  He  was 
subject  to  ordinary  limitations  in  other  ways,  not- 
withstanding His  possession  of  extraordinary  pow- 
ers He  Himself  plainly  averred.^^  He  did  not  know 
the  day  and  hour  of  His  own  advent.  He  confessed 
astonishment  at  men's  unresponsiveness  to  His  mes- 
sage. He  shrank  from  the  last  dread  ordeal  of 
shame,  ignominy  and  maltreatment.    We  may  well 

11  Mark  x.  18,  reproduced  in  Matthew  and  Luke. 

12  Gore :  Dissertations  on  Subjects  Connected  with  the  Incarna- 
tion— "The  Consciousness  of  Our  Lord,"  pp.  96,  97. 

147 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

say  that  all  other  miracles  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament  pale  beside  the  supreme  miracle  of  the 
self-consciousness  of  Jesus  Himself.  There  is  no 
parallel  to  it  in  all  that  is  known  of  human  life  on 
this  planet. 

In  the  main  He  seems  to  have  confined  His  min- 
istry to  people  of  His  own  race  and  country.  He 
avoided  foreign  cities  in  Palestine  itself  with  the 
possible  exception  of  CiEsarea  Philippi  and  there  is 
no  statement  that  He  ever  wrought  or  taught  in  a 
Gentile  community  as  such.  The  incident  of  the 
Syro-Phoenician  woman  and  the  Roman  Centurion 
are  remarkable  exceptions  to  His  general  rule. 
There  are  some  indications  that  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  His  ministry  He  thought  He  could  win  the  al- 
legiance of  Israel;  He  does  not  appear  to  have 
known  with  certainty  that  He  would  be  rejected  by 
His  own  countrymen.  What  would  have  happened 
if  they  had  accepted  Him?  It  is  hardly  any  use 
inquiring.  Such  a  life  as  that  of  Jesus  would  be 
certain  in  any  event  to  come  to  a  Calvary  of  some 
kind;  He  would  have  had  to  meet  His  passion  at 
the  hands  of  men.  More  we  do  not  know ;  the  mys- 
tery is  deeper  than  concerns  mankind  only;  there 
are  superhuman  forces  of  ill  to  be  reckoned  with 
as  well  as  of  good.  In  descanting  upon  the  limi- 
tations of  Jesus  it  has  often  been  remarked  that  He 
believed  disease  to  be  of  Satan's  making  whereas 
we  now  know  better.  Do  we?  It  may  be  gravely 
doubted.  Here  is  a  complex  problem  of  which  no 
complete  solution  is  forthcoming  by  any  means  at 
our  present  command,  but  there  is  at  least  some 

148 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

ground  for  suspecting  that  our  insight  into  the 
causes  of  human  suffering  is  after  all  not  so  superior 
to  that  of  the  Light  of  the  World  as  we  have  been 
too  ready  to  assume.  But  He  mistook  epilepsy 
for  demon  possession!  Did  He?  Have  our  wise 
men  mistaken  demon  possession  for  epileps}^?  If 
there  be  one  thing  almost  beyond  question  to  those 
who  know  the  evidence  in  these  days  it  is  that 
demon  possession  is  not  only  a  fact  but  a  fact  of 
our  time  as  well  as  of  New  Testament  times. 

Concerning  our  Lord's  accommodations  to  the 
ideas  of  His  contemporaries  in  other  ways  little 
need  be  said.  If  He  spoke  as  though  ISIoses  wrote 
the  books  of  the  Law  and  David  the  Psalter,  He 
was  only  speaking  in  terms  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
time,  perhaps  even  of  His  o^^n,  and  the  intellec- 
tual error  touches  no  vital  principle. 

More  important  questions  are  whether  He  need 
have  perished  if  He  had  not  allowed  Himself  at 
His  trial  to  be  accused  of  claiming  Messiahship; 
why  He  chose  to  labor  in  tlie  world  in  such  a  hum- 
ble capacity;  what  immediate  significance  He  at- 
tached to  His  earthly  life  and  ministry;  and  why 
in  His  o-svn  mind,  and  consequently  in  that  of  the 
apostles.  His  passion  apparently  had  so  much 
greater  significance  than  His  teaching.  We  can- 
not answer  these  questions  w^ithout  taking  full  and 
serious  account  of  the  development  of  Christian 
doctrine  as  a  whole. 

If  ever  Jesus  underwent  the  kind  of  agonizing 
spiritual  crisis  which  with  great  men  often  precedes 
vocation  to  a  life-work,  it  must  have  been  before 

1^9 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

His  emergence  at  the  baptism;  there  is  not  a  hint 
of  such  a  thing  afterwards,  for  neither  the  Temp- 
tation nor  the  agony  in  the  garden  were  of  this 
nature.  On  the  other  hand  His  pubHc  ministry 
was  perhaps  too  short  to  have  contained  much 
room  for  the  gradual  development  which  would 
take  place  in  an  ordinary  public  life  spread  over 
many  years.  It  is  noteworthy  that  while  He  de- 
clared Himself  able  to  forgive  sins  in  God's  name 
there  is  no  suggestion  that  He  ever  asked  or  felt  it 
necessary  to  ask  forgiveness  for  Himself.  To  His 
death  He  attributed  a  mysterious  efficacy  in  re- 
lation to  the  sins  of  the  world ;  but  He  had  no  sins 
of  His  own  that  required  atonement.  Until  the 
dark  hours  on  Calvary  He  lived  e^^er  in  the  light 
of  the  Father's  presence  and  knew  many  more 
things  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  heaven  than  He 
was  able  to  declare  to  those  about  Him.  He  never 
attempted  to  define  His  relationship  to  God;  per- 
haps it  never  has  been  defined;  mystery  it  was, 
mystery  it  is. 

He  valued  human  friendship  and  longed  for  sym- 
pathy in  trial  and  affliction  as  ordinary  human  be- 
ings do.  He  was  not  self-contained  and  self- 
sufficient  in  the  same  sense  as  some  hard  masculine 
natures  frequently  show  themselves  to  be  in  this 
world.  He  loved  little  children  and  they  evidently 
came  to  Him  freely.  He  mixed  with  ordinary 
human  life  and  shared  in  the  simple  homely  joys 
of  His  neighbors;  His  sheer  naturalness  stands  in 
sharp  contrast  with  the  poses  of  many  other  pre- 
ceptors and  leaders  of  men.    He  was  full  of  com- 

150 


THRESHOLD  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

passion  for  the  weak  and  sorrowful,  but  could  be 
stirred  to  deep  indignation  by  meanness,  cruelty, 
or  hypocrisy.  He  was  never  other  than  self-con- 
trolled and  there  was  a  majesty  and  force  about 
Him  which  impressed  even  His  enemies  in  spite  of 
themselves;  no  one  seems  to  have  found  it  easy  to 
take  a  liberty  with  Jesus.  His  courage  was  only 
equalled  by  His  patience  and  forebearance.  He 
had  none  of  what  is  ordinarily  termed  worldly  wis- 
dom but  an  unfailing  supply  of  the  wisdom  of 
goodness ;  He  saw  straight  to  the  heart  of  good  and 
evil  in  those  about  Him  without  making  a  mistake. 
[Morally  and  spiritually  He  is  without  a  compeer 
in  the  annals  of  the  race. 

Such  then  was  Jesus  at  the  beginning  of  His 
public  ministry  and  such  He  remained  to  the  end. 
We  have  now  to  ask  what  that  ministry  was  and 
how  it  shaped  itself  towards  the  goal  He  had  in 
view.  The  most  obvious  reason  for  His  having 
undertaken  a  public  ministry  was  that  He  might 
create  a  new  Israel,  the  Church,  and  introduce  to 
the  world  a  new  vision  of  God  and  a  new  and 
higher  kind  of  life  than  any  that  had  gone  before. 


CHAPTER    VII 

THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 
The  First  Disciples 

A  PROBLEM  of  some  magnitude  in  connection 
with  the  proper  sequence  to  be  observed  in  attempt- 
ing to  trace  the  doings  of  Jesus  from  this  point  on- 
ward now  presents  itself.  If  we  had  only  the  first 
three  gospels  before  us  we  might  conclude  that 
after  the  Temptation,  Jesus  went  straight  back  to 
His  home  at  Nazareth  and  remained  there  until 
He  heard  that  the  Baptist  had  been  imprisoned, 
and  tliat  then  He  came  forth  in  Galilee  as  a  pub- 
lic teacher.  But  if  we  are  to  accept  the  fourth 
gospel  as  an  historical  authorit}^ — and  the  trend 
of  recent  evidence  is  more  and  more  in  favor  of  so 
doing,  for  it  removes  not  a  few  difficulties  from  our 
path  although  it  creates  others — we  become  aware, 
as  the  evangelist  manifestly  intends  us  to  do,  that 
some  activities  of  considerable  importance  took 
place  in  the  period  intervening  between  these  two 
capital  events.  The  intercourse  between  Jesus  and 
the  Baptist  appears  to  have  been  resumed  immedi- 
ately after  the  Temptation,  and  they  would  seem  to 
have  remained  in  association  for  some  time,  though 

158 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

how  close  that  association  was  there  is  nothing  to 
show.  On  four  successive  days,  according  to  the  ac- 
count given  in  St.  John,  significant  events  took  place. 
On  the  first  of  these  the  Baptist  was  questioned  by 
a  deputation  of  priests  and  Levites  from  Jerusalem 
upon  the  significance  of  his  mission,  and  he  took  the 
opportunity  of  saying  in  the  course  of  his  reply 
that  he  now  knew  that  the  greater  than  himself, 
for  whom  it  had  been  his  work  to  prepare  the  way, 
was  already  come.  This  confession  goes  far  to  sug- 
gest that  he  had  been  holding  private  conversations 
with  Jesus  and  had  been  confirmed  thereby  in  the 
impression  he  had  received  at  the  baptism  concern- 
ing Jesus'  destiny.  The  day  following,  as  he  saw 
Jesus  coming  towards  him,  he  uttered  the  solemn 
proclamation  referred  to  above,  though  how  many 
persons  heard  it  is  not  stated.  But  on  the  day  suc- 
ceeding this  he  said  almost  the  same  thing  to  two 
of  his  own  disciples.  One  of  these  was  Andrew, 
brother  of  Simon  Peter,  who  afterwards  so  spe- 
cially associated  with  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus. 
The  evangelist  does  not  state  who  the  other  person 
was,  but  the  inference  is  that  it  was  himself.  If 
so,  and  if  the  chief  source  of  the  information  con- 
tained in  the  fourth  gospel  is  the  apostle  John,  then 
we  have  here  a  record  of  the  first  meeting  between 
the  beloved  disciple  and  his  Master  at  the  begin- 
ning of  Jesus'  ministry.  John's  presence  in  the 
south  at  this  time  is  explained  by  his  eager  earnest- 
ness in  listening  to  the  preaching  of  the  Baptist,  to 
whom  he  appears  definitely  to  have  joined  himself 
as  a  learner.    That  Andrew  was  with  him  and  was 

153 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

his  friend  shows  that  they  were  already  acquainted. 
No  doubt  the  little  group  of  Gallileans  came  down 
to  the  Jordan  together  and  remained  in  company, 
for  we  gather  that  Simon  was  there  also,  though  not 
present  when  Jesus  was  pointed  out  by  the  Baptist 
to  John  and  Andrew.  These  two  instantly  fol- 
lowed Jesus,  who  turned  and  asked  them  what 

0 

they  sought.  Their  reply  was  in  substance  a  re- 
quest to  be  permitted  to  hold  conversation  with 
Him  at  their  leisure.  They  asked  Him  where  His 
lodging  was,  and  in  return  He  invited  them  to 
come  and  abide  with  Him  as  it  was  late,  only  two 
hours  before  dark.  Whether  Jesus  was  still  stay- 
ing with  the  Baptist  is  not  indicated,  but  there  is 
nothing  in  the  account  to  forbid  sudi  a  supposition 
which  is  consonant  with  all  the  rest  that  is  recorded 
of  this  momentous  time.  The  herald  of  Jesus  was 
now  deliberately  handing  over  certain  of  his  dis- 
ciples to  the  new  teacher,  and  nothing  is  more  likely 
than  that  the  important  first  interview  between 
them  and  Him  should  have  been  held  in  the  pri- 
vacy secured  by  the  Baptist. 

One  would  like  to  know  what  was  said  that  night 
by  the  light  of  a  flickering  oil  lamp  as  Jesus  sat 
face  to  face  with  these  two  men,  one  of  them  a  mere 
youth.  That  they  were  deeply  impressed  is  evident 
from  what  they  did.  Apparently  before  he  went 
to  rest  Andrew  went  and  found  his  brother  Simon 
and  brought  him  also  into  the  presence  of  Jesus, 
for  it  is  stated  that  it  was  on  the  day  following 
His  meetine:  with  the  three  that  Jesus  decided  to 
return  to  Galilee.    There  is  some  difficulty  about 

154 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

Andrew's  way  of  describing  Jesus  to  Simon.  He 
frankly  calls  Him  the  Messiah,  which  is  strange  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  it  was  on  this  very  point  that 
Jesus  Himself  was  so  silent  that  Simon's  own 
avowal  to  the  same  effect  much  later  on  should 
have  drawn  from  the  Master  the  exclamation; 
"Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona,  for  flesh  and 
blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  How  then  does  it  come  that 
at  the  outset  of  this  same  Simon's  acquaintance 
with  Jesus,  the  reason  given  for  making  that  ac- 
quaintance at  all  is  that  in  his  brother  Andrew's 
opinion  Jesus  is  none  other  than  the  Messiah  ?  The 
question  is  a  difficult  one,  perhaps  not  to  be  fully 
and  satisfactorily  answered.  But  to  the  present 
writer  it  seems  that  the  only  way  of  accounting  for 
the  application  of  this  title  to  Jesus  thus  early  in 
His  ministry  is  that  it  was  not  used  with  the  nuance 
afterwards  given  to  it  by  the  apostolic  preachers. 
It  is  not  said  that  Jesus  Himself  endorsed  the  dec- 
laration. It  was  not  for  nothing  that  He  took 
time  tacitly  to  instruct  His  followers  in  the  depth 
of  significance  to  be  attached  to  the  word.  Prob- 
ably it  was  only  very  A^aguely  understood  at  first 
by  any  of  these  sitiiple  men;  they  may  not  have 
given  much  attention  to  the  subject  as  a  practical 
one  till  they  heard  the  Baptist  preach,  and  even 
then  had  no  very  clear  idea  of  what  Messiahship 
ought  to  mean  except  that  it  was  bound  up  with 
the  nationalistic  hopes  of  Israel.  Hence  when 
after  being  in  His  company  for  many  months 
Simon  at  last  confessed  spontaneously  his  convic- 

155 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

tion  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  the  Master  knew 
that  His  object  had  been  attained  and  that  the 
idea  had  now  become  associated  in  the  thought  of 
His  followers  with  a  new  conception  of  the  nature 
and  quality  of  Messiahship.  Is  this  the  reason  why 
He  joyfully  replied  to  Peter's  confession  at 
Cfesarea  Philippi,  "flesh  and  blood  hath  not  re- 
vealed it  unto  thee" — that  is,  not  Andrew's  nor 
anyone  else's  impulsive  testimony  this  time — "but 
my  Father  which  is  in  heaven?"  Was  the  expres- 
sion "flesh  and  blood"  an  allusion  to  the  earlier 
announcement  now  confirmed  on  other  and  higher 
grounds?  He  had  maintained  silence  on  the  sub- 
ject and  waited  till  this  spontaneous  confession 
became  inevitable. 

A  friend  of  Andrew  and  Peter,  their  near  neigh- 
bor in  Bethsaida  in  Galilee,  was  added  to  the  little 
company  next  day,  Philip  by  name.  Philip  in 
turn  introduced  a  fourth  to  the  fellowship,  ^a- 
thanael  of  Cana.  The  text  of  the  narrative  implies 
that  Jesus  was  on  His  way  home  to  Galilee  when 
this  happened,  and  that  His  three  new  adherents 
were  traveling  with  Him  or  just  about  to  start 
when  they  fell  in  with  Philip  and  afterwards  with 
A^athanael.  There  is  some  ground  for  identifying 
Nathanael  with  Bartholomew  the  apostle.  Na- 
thanael  was  meditating  and  praying  under  a  fig 
tree  on  his  homeward  road  to  Galilee  when  Philip 
came  to  him  with  the  announcement,  "We  have 
found  Him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the 
prophets  did  write,  Jesus  of  TsTazareth,  the  son  of 
Joseph,'*     The  form  of  this   description  of  the 

156 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

Savior  shows  that  something  was  known  or  had 
recently  been  learned  by  Andrew,  Peter,  and  John 
of  Jesus'  habitation  and  family.  But  it  was  not 
an  impressive  revelation.  The  subject  of  Na- 
thanael's  thoughts  and  prayers  at  the  moment  was 
that  of  the  deliverance  of  Israel  and  the  coming 
of  the  Messianic  king.  Hence  to  be  told  that  the 
Messiah  was  the  son  of  a  carpenter  in  the  obscure 
village  of  Xazareth  was  to  him  like  utter  nonsense. 
It  would  be  equivalent  to  telling  an  ordinary  Eng- 
lishman of  the  present  day  that  the  future  sover- 
eign of  the  British  Empire  was  at  that  moment 
serving  as  a  mechanic  in  a  provincial  town.  "Can 
there  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?"  was 
Nathanael's  sarcastic  reply.  "Come  and  see,"  said 
Phihp.  Nathanael  left  his  devotions  and  at  once 
accompanied  Philip  to  the  INIaster's  presence.  No 
sooner  did  Jesus  see  Nathanael  coming  towards 
Him  than  He  greeted  him  with  the  words,  "Behold 
an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile!"  Na- 
thanael  was  startled,  for  apparently  the  observa- 
tion was  upon  the  line  of  his  own  thoughts.  He 
had  been  reflecting  upon  Israel,  her  sorrows  and 
her  sins,  and  here  was  some  one  who  evidently  knew 
this.  "Whence  knowest  thou  me?"  he  demanded. 
"Before  that  Philip  called  thee,"  was  the  answer, 
"when  thou  wast  under  the  fig  tree  I  saw  thee." 
Astounded,  Nathanael  cried  out,  "Rabbi,  thou  art 
the  Son  of  God;  thou  art  the  King  of  Israel."  He 
could  scarcely  have  been  in  that  august  presence 
without  being  impressed  in  any  case,  but  to  learn 
that  Jesus  had  known  all  about  him  beforehand 

157 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

clinched  the  matter.  There  could  be  no  doubt  but 
that  Andrew  was  right.  Here  stood  the  holy  One 
of  Israel,  God's  chosen,  the  King  who  was  to  sit 
on  David's  throne.  And  the  memorable  colloquy 
closes  with  the  intimation  on  the  part  of  Jesus  that 
the  grounds  upon  which  Nathanael  believed  were 
but  small  compared  with  what  "were  to  follow. 
Clairvoyant  vision  was  unimportant  when  viewed 
beside  spiritual  revelation,  and  it  was  to  the  latter 
privilege  that  Nathanael  was  now  bidden  in  being 
made  one  of  Jesus'  friends  and  intimates.  *'Hence- 
forth  thou  shalt  see  heaven  opened  and  the  angels 
of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son 
of  Man." 

In  Cana  of  Galilee 

It  may  have  been,  as  already  suggested,  that  this 
meeting  took  place  before  instead  of  after  Jesus' 
return  from  Judea  to  Galilee  after  His  parting 
with  the  Baptist.  If  so,  the  fact  that  the  Master 
was  present  at  a  wedding  feast  in  Cana  directly 
afterwards  suggests  that  Nathanael  persuaded 
Jesus  to  visit  him  for  this  occasion  and  to  bring  His 
mother.  It  is  stated  also  that  Jesus'  new  disciples 
were  there.  What  more  likely  than  that  they  were 
there  because  of  the  fellowship  established  with  Na- 
thanael on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  and  that  they 
had  all  traveled  home  to  Galilee  together?  Jesus 
then  went  down  to  Nazareth  to  fetch  His  mother 
to  Nathanael's  house  as  a  guest.  Philip  and  the 
others  rejoined  Him  shortly  afterwards  under  Na- 

158 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

thanael's  roof  where  the  wedding  festivities  were 
in  progress. 

Here  He  performed  what  we  are  informed  was 
His  first  great  miracle,  the  purpose  of  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  neither  more  nor  less  than  the 
giving  of  happiness  to  a  group  of  humble  folk  at  a 
social  gathering. 

Of  late  years  the  mental  atmosphere  of  our  time 
has  again  become  more  favorable  to  belief  in  the 
credibihty  of  the  miracles  attributed  to  Jesus  in 
the  New  Testament.  It  is  certainly  not  too  much 
to  say  that  for  fifty  years  previously  the  chief  diffi- 
culty in  connection  with  the  study  of  the  life  of 
lives  has  been  just  that  of  admitting  the  historical 
character  of  the  marvels  Jesus  is  said  to  have 
wrought.  But  it  has  been  found  impossible  to  dis- 
entangle the  life  from  the  works.  As  the  late  Pro- 
fessor A.  B.  Bruce  says/  the  evidence  for  the  mira- 
cles of  Christ  stands  on  as  good  historical  ground 
as  the  best  accredited  parts  of  the  teaching;  indeed, 
the  teaching  is  so  intertwined  with  the  miracles  that 
the  one  may  be  said  to  depend  to  a  great  extent 
upon  the  other.  A  miracle  is  only  a  phenomenon 
which  we  are  as  yet  unable  to  refer  to  some  govern- 
ing principle  to  which  we  are  accustomed.  What 
we  call  natural  laws  are  observable  sequences  of 
phenomena  or  of  the  conditions  governing  phenom- 
ena. A  miracle  is  not  a  violation  of  natural  law, 
but  the  supersession  of  one  sequence  by  another. 
Thus,  it  is  a  law  that  water  will  run  down  hill ;  but 
water  in  solid  form  will  not  run  at  all;  and  again 

'^Expositor's  Greek  Testament.     Vol.  I,  p.  23. 

159 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

water  in  the  form  of  vapor  will  actually  rise  in- 
stead of  falling.  And  so  all  the  way  through ;  what 
we  call  miracles  to-day  are  phenomena  for  which 
we  cannot  account  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowl- 
edge. "What  would  once  have  been  called  miracles 
are  now  commonplaces  of  experience,  such  as  the 
action  of  radium,  the  X-rays,  wireless  telegraphy, 
and  all  the  wonders  of  electricitv.  And  what  we 
are  still  obliged  to  call  miracles,  miracles  in  the 
'New  Testament  sense,  are  taking  place  in  our  midst 
to-day,  such  as  levitation,  faith-healing,  and  the 
like.  There  is  hardly  one  of  our  Lord's  recorded 
miracles  which  cannot  be  paralleled  in  our  own  time 
in  some  degree,  though  doubtless  in  His  case  the 
phenomena  are  exceptionally  wonderful  because 
He  Himself  is  exceptionally  wonderful.  And  let 
us  keep  in  mind  the  point  of  view  with  which  we 
began  this  study:  Given  a  transcendent  person  we 
may  expect  transcendent  facts.  Given  a  transcen- 
dental world  of  eternal  perfection,  from  which  a 
mighty  being  comes  into  ours,  we  should  not  be 
surprised  if  something  of  transcendental  power  and 
glory  is  manifested,  too.  As  for  this  miracle  in 
Cana  of  Galilee,  it  has  been  well  remarked  that  the 
very  same  thing,  namely  the  turning  of  water  into 
wine,  only  with  a  longer  time  to  do  it  in,  can  be 
seen  going  on  all  over  the  world  to-day  by  the  ordi- 
nary processes  of  nature  wherever  grapes  are  ripen- 
ing in  the  sun.^ 

The  fourth  evangelist  tells  us  that  at  this  wed- 
ding feast  there  was  no  wine.    He  does  not  say  that 

2  So  said  early  Christian  apolopi-ts,  as  Irenaeus  Adv.  Hser.  iii.  IL 

160 


JESUS'  PUBLIC   LIFE 

they  had  any  wine  at  all  to  begin  with,  though  if 
the  feast  were  in  Nathanael's  house  this  is  strange. 
Literally  the  Greek  rendering  is  "the  wine  having 
failed,"  so  perhaps  the  obvious  conclusion  to  be 
derived  from  it  is  that  the  feast  had  been  going 
on  for  some  time  and  that  the  supply  of  wine  had 
given  out.  We  know  that  these  wedding  merry- 
makings were  sometimes  prolonged  for  days  and 
even  weeks,  and  it  would  be  no  unlikely  thing  that 
even  a  large  quantity  of  the  wine  of  the  district 
would  be  exhausted  in  such  circumstances  espe- 
cially if  free  and  generous  hospitality  were  shown 
to  all  and  sundry.  Learning  of  this,  the  mother 
of  Jesus  said  to  Him,  "They  have  no  wine."  This 
was  a  not  unnatural  remark,  but  it  must  have  been 
made  with  a  deeper  import  than  the  words  con- 
vey, judging  by  the  response  it  evoked  and  which 
sounds  harsh  in  its  English  form:  "Woman,  what 
have  I  to  do  with  thee?  mine  hour  is  not  yet  come." 
Our  ordinary  New  Testament  translation  of  these 
words  ought  not  to  have  been  allowed  to  stand. 
"Woman"  was  a  title  of  respect,  not  as  in  our 
idiom  an  almost  slighting  mode  of  address.  "What 
have  I  to  do  with  thee?"  is  also  misleading.  It 
should  be,  "What  is  that  to  me  and  thee?"  In  col- 
loquial English  we  might  render  it,  "Mother,  can 
j'^ou  and  I  interfere  in  this?  The  hour  for  me  to 
declare  myself  publicly  has  not  yet  arrived."  It  is 
clear  that  Mary  must  have  known  that  her  divine 
Son  was  possessed  of  miraculous  powers.  She  must 
also  have  known  something  of  the  crisis  through 
which  He  had  recently  passed  and  His  intentions 

161 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

regarding  the  immediate  future.  He  would  have 
no  reason  for  keeping  these  from  her  who  up  to  then 
had  been  His  principal  confidante  and  from  whose 
lips  He  had  learned  the  story  of  His  supernatural 
advent.  The  presence  of  His  disciples  in  the  house 
showed  that  a  new  departure  was  imminent.  If 
Nathanael  were  the  host,  then  in  all  probability  this 
wedding  feast  was  the  end  of  the  old  life.  Jesus  and 
His  friends  intended  to  begin  their  new  work  to- 
gether directly  it  was  over,  and  had  perhaps  post- 
poned their  joint  action  till  then. 

But  it  is  pleasing  to  note  that  it  was  at  His 
mother's  special  request  that  Jesus  anticipated  His 
public  ministry  in  this  way.  He  demurs  at  first, 
and  then  does  what  she  suggests,  as  she  seems  to 
have  known  He  would.  "Whatsoever  He  saith 
unto  you,  do  it,"  she  observes  quietly  to  the  ser- 
vants. What  did  she  suppose  He  could  do?  The 
only  conclusion  from  the  testimony  is  that  she  must 
have  been  aware  from  previous  experience  that  He 
had  power  to  make  good  in  some  way  the  want  of 
wine;  and  yet  we  have  no  evidence  that  He  had 
ever  worked  a  miracle  before,  the  apocryphal  in- 
fancy stories  notwithstanding.  What  can  we  con- 
clude but  that  Mary  was  in  her  son's  confidence  at 
this  time  about  everything,  including  the  nature 
and  meaning  of  the  Temptation  in  the  wilderness? 
It  was  from  this  source  that  she  knew  of  His  latent 
mastery  over  the  forces  of  nature,  His  endowment 
of  supernatural  power;  hence  her  request  and  ex- 
pectation of  its  fulfillment.     Jesus  bade  the  ser- 

162 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

vants  fill  the  water  pots  with  water — great  jars, 
like  the  amphorae  which  were  such  a  feature  of 
Roman  civilization  long  ago,  earthenware  vessels 
for  holding  considerable  quantities  of  either  water 
or  wine.  They  obeyed,  and  at  His  further  com- 
mand drew  of  the  contents  and  carried  them  to  the 
table.  The  water  had  become  wine,  and  that  of  the 
best  quality;  for  the  governor  of  the  feast,  who- 
ever he  may  have  been,  complimented  the  bride- 
groom on  its  excellence,  speaking  evidently  in  the 
name  of  all  who  partook  of  it.  "Every  man  at  the 
beginning  doth  set  forth  good  wine ;  and  when  men 
have  well  drunk,  then  that  which  is  worse :  but  thou 
hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now." 

This,  the  first  recorded  miracle  of  Jesus,  is  told 
only  in  the  latest  of  the  gospels,  the  one  tradition- 
ally attributed  to  St.  John.  In  consonance  with 
the  ingenious  sj^mbolism  of  the  book  we  may  take 
it  that  the  author  of  the  gospel,  in  preserving  for 
us  the  story  of  the  miracle  at  Cana,  means  us  to 
think  of  it  as  a  figure  of  our  Lord's  relation  to  the 
ancient  religion  of  Israel.^  This  had  once  con- 
tained a  true  divine  revelation,  the  wine  of  spiritual 
life,  in  the  united  witness  of  prophet,  saint,  and 
seer.  But  the  life  had  given  out ;  the  prophetic  fire 
had  died  away;  there  was  no  longer  any  fervor  or 
inspiration  in  the  official  faith  and  worship  of  the 
time.  The  religious  forms  were  utterly  colorless, 
devoid  of  meaning  and  power.  The  wine  was  gone; 
there  was  only  water  left.  Then  comes  the  world's 
Redeemer  and  recharges  the  revelation  of  old  with 

8  Schmiedel :  Johannine  Writings. 

163 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

a  new  spiritual  content,  with  new  moral  energy. 
The  best  wine  had  come  last. 

The  First  Cleansing  of  the  Temple 

What  happened  after  the  wedding  feast  at  Cana? 
Here  the  three  earlier  gospels  tell  us  less  than  the 
fourth.  If  we  had  nothing  but  the  accounts  of 
the  former  before  us  we  might  suppose  that  the 
Master  began  His  public  ministry  at  once — indeed, 
directly  after  the  Temptation  and  before  this  so- 
cial occasion  at  Cana.  But  John  shows  us  other- 
wise. He  says  that  after  the  wedding  feast  Jesus, 
His  mother,  and  His  brethren  went  down  to  Caper- 
naum and  stayed  there  "not  many  days."  Near 
to  the  beginning  of  the  ministry,  and  from  that 
time  onward,  Jesus  fixed  His  dwelling  in  the  town 
thus  named.  The  first  gospel  explicitly  says  so. 
*'jN"ow  when  Jesus  had  heard  that  John  was  cast 
into  prison,  he  departed  into  Galilee;  and,  leaving 
Nazareth,  he  came  and  dwelt  in  Capernaum, 
which  is  upon  the  seacoast  in  the  borders  of  Zabu- 
lon  and  Nephthalim."  The  mission  of  the  Pales- 
tine Exploration  Fund  identifies  Capernaum  with 
the  modern  village  of  Tell-Hum.^  If  this  is  correct 
it  would  be  about  a  short  day's  journey  from 
Nazareth. 

But  a  good  deal  had  evidently  taken  place  in  the 
meantime.  If  Jesus  came  into  Galilee  after  hear- 
ing of  John's  imprisonment,  where  was  He  before? 
Was  the  Baptist  imprisoned  previous  to  the  wed- 

*  But  consult  G.  A.  Smith :  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy 
Land,  p.  456,  and  Sanday:  Sacred  Sites,  p.  36  ff,  for  discussion  of 
this  question. 

164 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

ding  feast  at  Cana  of  Galilee?  If  so,  it  was  from 
this  moment  that  the  Galilean  ministry  began.  But 
John  the  evangelist's  special  contribution  to  the 
subject  leads  us  to  infer  that  Jesus  made  a  short 
visit  to  Capernaum  and  then  immediatel}^  went 
south  again  for  the  feast  of  the  Passover.  The 
synoptics  are  silent  about  this  journey,  the  men- 
tion of  which,  indeed,  in  this  particular  connection, 
creates  some  knotty  problems.  Possibly  Mary  and 
her  family  had  been  thinking  of  moving  to  Caper- 
naum, and  now  took  the  preliminary  steps  to  that 
end ;  or  it  may  be  that  they  went  there  as  the  guests 
of  Jesus'  new  disciples,  who  evidently  had  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  Capernaum,  and  that  later  on  when 
He  was  expelled  from  Nazareth  the  Master  fixed 
His  permanent  headquarters  there. 

The  most  remarkable  thing  about  His  move- 
ments as  thus  described  is  that,  so  the  fourth  gos- 
pel states,  during  this  visit  to  Jerusalem  after  the 
short  stay  at  Cana  and  Capernaum  He  went  pub- 
licly into  the  Temple  and  drove  out  all  the  persons 
who  were  buying  and  selling  within  its  precincts, 
whereas  the  earlier  gospels  describe  a  similar  act 
as  having  taken  place  at  the  close  of  His  ministry. 
Is  there  a  contradiction  here?  The  s^moptics  do 
not  mention  this  Passover  visit  at  all,  and  in  their 
very  vivid  and  dramatic  accounts  of  the  cleansing 
of  the  Temple  immediately  antecedent  to  our 
Lord's  betrayal  and  arrest,  they  say  nothing  about 
His  ever  having  done  the  same  thing  before.  Yet 
here  we  have  it  in  St.  John  under  much  the  same 
conditions.     This  gospel  says  that  Jesus  made  a 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

scourge  of  small  cords  and  drove  all  the  sheep  and 
oxen  out  of  the  Temple,  together  with  the  money- 
changers, saying  as  He  did  so,  "Take  these  things 
hence;  make  not  my  Father's  house  an  house  of 
merchandise." 

There  is  one  marked  difference  between  the  two 
narratives,  however.  The  synoptics  have  it  that 
His  words  on  the  occasion  were:  "IMy  house  shall 
be  called  a  house  of  prayer ;  but  ye  have  made  it  a 
den  of  thieves."  Both  expressions  are  impressive 
and  memorable,  and  as  the  author  of  the  latest  of 
the  gospels  was  so  evidently  acquainted  with  the 
others,  he  would  not  have  deliberately  contradicted 
them  in  such  a  detail  as  this.  There  may  easily  have 
been  two  such  expulsions,  one  at  the  beginning  and 
one  at  the  end  of  Jesus'  brief  career  as  a  public 
teacher.^  The  scandal  was  admittedly  great,  the 
Temple  authorities  deriving  considerable  financial 
profit  from  their  practice  in  relation  thereto.  It 
was  the  custom  for  vendors  of  victims  for  the  Tem- 
ple sacrifices  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  taking 
their  stand  within  the  walls  for  the  purpose  of 
plying  their  trade,  and  as  pilgrims  of  Jewish  na- 
tionality came  up  to  the  feast  from  all  over  the 
world  a  brisk  business  was  carried  on  in  money- 
changing  likewise.  Everybody  knew  it  was  un- 
seemly, and  the  occasion  only  required  that  some 
one  of  strong  personality  and  with  something  of 
prophetic  force  about  him  should  become  the  em- 
bodied conscience  of  the  worshipers  at  large  in  re- 

^  This  is  admitted  by  many  authorities.    Cf.  Liddon :  Sermons  on 
Some  Words  of  Christ,  xix. 

166 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

gard  to  the  matter.  The  whip  of  small  cords  re- 
ferred to  in  this  particular  instance — not  in  the 
other — was  only  a  handful  of  fibers  picked  up  from 
the  ground  whereon  the  cattle  stood,  and  was  not 
used  upon  human  beings  but  to  drive  forth  the 
animals. 

Naturally  on  this  occasion,  as  on  the  later  one, 
the  officials  in  charge  came  to  Jesus  when  the  dis- 
turbance was  over  to  ask  for  His  credentials.  If 
He  were  entitled  to  speak  as  a  prophet,  so  they 
argued,  He  should  be  ready  to  give  them  some  sign 
that  He  was  one.  This  is  not  quite  so  strong  a 
demand  as  that  recorded  of  the  later  cleansing: 
*'By  what  authority  doest  thou  these  things?  and 
who  gave  thee  this  authority?"  In  fact,  much  more 
impressive  notice  seems  to  have  been  taken  of  the 
second  cleansing  than  the  first,  and  with  good  rea- 
son; by  the  time  the  second  cleansing  took  place 
our  Lord  had  become  a  generally  known  public 
figure  in  sharp  antagonism  to  the  religious  ideals 
of  His  time,  especially  as  embodied  in  the  priest- 
hood and  the  Pharisaic  order,  which  on  the  former 
occasion  He  was  not.  And  His  reply  to  the  chal- 
lenge is  different  also.  In  the  first  instance  when 
asked  for  a  sign,  He  responded  with  the  enigmatic 
saying:  "Destroy  this  Temple,  and  in  three  days 
I  will  raise  it  up."  In  the  later  episode  as  recorded 
by  the  synoptics,  the  reply  is  a  counter  question 
concerning  the  baptism  of  John  demanding  to 
know  whether  they  considered  it  to  be  of  heaven  or 
of  men. 

The   more    closely   the    several   narratives    are 

167 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

scrutinized  the  more  evident  it  becomes  that  Jesus 
cleansed  the  Temple  twice,  the  second  time  more 
overwhelmingly  and  impressively^  than  the  first. 
His  comparative  mild  remonstrance  on  the  earlier 
occasion,  "JNIake  not  my  Father's  house  an  house 
of  merchandise,"  is  replaced  on  the  second  by  the 
stern  indictment,  "Ye  have  made  it  a  den  of 
thieves."  The  greater  strength  of  language  can 
be  fully  accounted  for  by  all  that  had  happened  in 
the  interval,  by  the  growing  antagonism  between 
Himself  and  the  religious  leaders  of  the  nation. 
In  asking  for  a  sign  to  justify  His  exceptional  ac- 
tion at  the  beginning,  the  Temple  authorities  show 
that  as  yet  they  did  not  know  with  whom  they  had 
to  deal  and  were  uneasily  conscious  of  the  wide- 
spread  discontent  caused  by  their  shameless  cupid- 
ity; they  felt  that  in  expelling  the  money-changers 
He  was  only  doing  what  many  people  wanted  done 
and  the  like  of  which  prophets  had  been  known  to 
do  before;  the  best  way  of  challenging  His  con- 
duct was  to  request  that  He  should  comply  with 
the  ordinary  popular  expectation  that  a  prophet 
should  be  able  to  produce  some  indication  that  he 
was  heaven-sent.  But  at  the  end  of  the  ministry 
they  had  no  such  scruples;  they  were  prepared  to 
resist  Jesus  to  the  death.  He  gave  them  their  sign 
when  they  first  asked  for  it — "Destroy  this  Tem- 
ple," etc. — a  most  striking  utterance  in  view  of  all 
that  had  to  follow,  and  they  could  have  had  little 
idea  of  what  it  meant.  Not  so  with  His  ironical  de- 
mand concerning  the  baptism  of  John  when  His 
own  earthly  ministry  was  drawing  so  near  its  tragic 

168 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

close.  At  the  moment  of  the  first  cleansing  John 
was  still  living;  hy  the  time  the  second  took  place 
he  had  been  dead  long  enough  to  become,  as  it 
were,  canonized  in  the  estimation  of  the  people  and 
Jesus  had  taken  His  place  as  a  public  personage. 
He  speaks  of  John's  ministry  in  the  past  tense. 
Well  did  the  secular-minded,  crafty  priests  under- 
stand the  purport  of  Jesus'  reference  to  the  noble 
Baptist.  He  had  placed  them  in  a  dilemma.  They 
dared  not  make  light  of  the  credentials  of  the  mar- 
tyr whose  name  was  now  held  in  reverence  by  the 
multitude,  and  vet  neither  could  thev  admit  that 
He  had  spoken  by  the  authoritj^  of  heaven,  seeing 
that  they  themselves  had  not  paid  respect  to  his 
word.  They,  therefore,  took  refuge  in  evasion. 
"We  cannot  tell,"  they  said.  Jesus'  scornful  com- 
ment on  this  feeble  trick  was  no  evasion,  however. 
"Neither  tell  I  vou  bv  what  authoritv  I  do  these 
things."  He  had  not  the  slightest  objection  to  tell- 
ing them  by  what  authority  He  acted;  it  was  the 
same  authority  as  John's,  namely,  that  of  innate 
moral  force,  the  "needs  must"  of  all  prophetic  souls, 
and  they  knew  it.  They  were  reduced  to  silence 
and  desperation.  Henceforth  it  became  imperative 
for  their  own  security  that  this  bold  and  formidable 
successor  of  the  Baptist,  and  a  far  mightier  and 
more  impressive  personality  than  he,  should  be  got 
rid  of  in  some  way.  By  fair  means  or  foul  He 
must  be  put  to  death. 

We  have  anticipated  considerably  in  thus  com- 
paring the  separate  accounts  of  the  two  cleansings, 
but  it  is  worth  while  bringing  out  the  important 

169 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

disparities  between  them.  The  circumstances  are 
as  different  as  the  terms  employed  by  the  respec- 
tive participants  are  said  to  have  been. 

But  to  return  to  our  examination  of  the  original 
sequence  of  events,  it  should  be  noted  that  the 
fourth  evangelist  adds  a  comment  on  Jesus'  reply 
to  the  request  for  a  sign.  He  says:  "But  He  spake 
of  the  temple  of  His  body.  When,  therefore.  He 
was  risen  from  the  dead,  His  disciples  remembered 
that  He  had  said  this  unto  them."  Here  the  writer 
is  once  more  true  to  his  method  of  the  systematic 
employment  of  metaphor,  of  meaning  within  mean- 
ing. John  the  divine,  an  old  man  looking  back 
upon  these  memorable  daj^s  when  as  a  youth  he 
walked  by  the  side  of  Jesus,  could  not  fail  to  see 
in  the  saj^ing  above  quoted  a  double  reference — one 
to  the  sacred  body  that  was  laid  in  the  tomb,  and 
the  other  to  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  His  holy 
Church.  The  old  religion  of  Israel  was  indeed 
being  destroj^ed  by  such  blatant  materialism  and 
hypocrisy  as  the  presence  of  the  money-changers  in 
the  Temple  denoted.  The  religious  leaders  of 
Israel  were  destroying  all  that  the  Temple  was  sup- 
posed to  embody  and  express,  but  it  was  the  mis- 
sion of  Jesus  to  raise  upon  its  ruins  a  world-wide 
spiritual  fabric  which  should  never  be  destroyed. 
And  just  as  St.  John  supplies  the  record  of  the 
episode  which  produced  this  impressive  forecast, 
because  the  synoptics  omit  it,  so  he  in  his  turn  sees 
no  necessity  for  recording  the  second  cleansing 
which  the  synoptics  relate  at  length. 

If  we  are  thus  to  adhere  to  St.  John's  sequence 

170 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

of  events,  we  must  recognize  this  first  cleansing  of 
the  Temple  as  the  definite  beginning  of  our  Lord's 
public  ministry.  Not  in  Galilee  but  in  Jerusalem,  as 
was  most  fitting,  were  His  first  words  spoken  to  lis- 
tening assemblies.  And  when  we  come  to  reflect 
upon  the  subject  it  is  clear  that  this  is  what  we 
ought  to  anticipate.  If  Jesus  meant  to  address 
Himself  to  Israel  there  was  every  reason  why  He 
should  begin  His  work  in  the  capital  and  at  the 
feast  of  the  Passover,  the  greatest  religious  gather- 
ing of  the  year.  The  contrary  assumption,  based 
upon  the  record  of  the  earlier  gospels,  that  Jesus 
first  began  to  teach  in  the  neighborhood  of  His  own 
Galilean  home,  has  nothing  to  support  it  beyond 
the  fact  that  the  earlier  evangelists  naturally  em- 
phasized this  part  of  the  ministry  because  the  com- 
panions of  Jesus  on  whom  they  chiefly  depended 
for  their  information  were  Galileans,  and  also  be- 
cause our  Lord  Himself  lived  in  Galilee.  John 
deliberately  supplies  omissions,  knowing  quite  well 
what  he  is  doing.  He  may  have  been  with  his  new- 
found JNIaster  in  Jerusalem  on  this  preliminary  oc- 
casion, whereas  it  is  less  probable  that  Peter  was.^ 
In  his  reminiscences  he  emphasizes  this  fact,  who- 
ever may  have  made  literature  of  them — at  least  it 

^  There  are  indications  that  the  sons  of  Zebedee  were  more  pros- 
perous than  Peter.  They  had  "hired  servants"  and  a  fleet  of  fishing 
boats — "ships."  They  would,  therefore,  then  as  now,  obtain  some 
amount  of  social  importance  and  freedom  of  movement  denied  to 
the  man  who  had  to  toil  for  a  livelihood.  If,  as  is  reasonable  and 
probably  intended,  we  are  to  identify  the  apostle  John  with  the  be- 
loved disciple,  then  we  must  also  conclude  that  he  possessed  influence 
with  the  circle  of  the  high  priest.  He  was  able  to  gain  admission 
to  the  judgment  hall  for  Peter  as  well  as  himself,  and  he  was  pres- 
ent with  impunity  at  Calvary,  which  no  other  member  of  the  apos- 
tolic circle  dared  to  be. 

171 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

is  legitimate  to  infer  as  much.  If  in  after  years, 
recalling  for  the  benefit  of  his  Ephesian  church 
what  he  could  remember  of  his  relations  with  his 
Lord,  he  commented  specialty  upon  some  things 
not  included  in  the  synoptic  reports,  can  we  be  sur- 
prised? Is  it  not  just  what  any  one  would  do  in 
his  place?  He  had  the  other  gospels  there  before 
him ;  they  were  read  in  the  little  Christian  communi- 
ties whenever  these  met  for  worship;  he  knew  all 
the}^  had  to  say.  Would  not  those  about  him  re- 
quest more,  and  so  the  Johannine  tradition  grow 
up  as  supplementary  to  the  Petrine  and  Matthsean? 
He  here  tells  us  that  many  present  in  Jerusalem  at 
this  particular  feast  of  the  Passover  believed  on 
Jesus  through  seeing  what  He  had  done — that  is, 
they  were  awed  by  His  moral  greatness  and  trans- 
cendent force  of  character.  "But,"  significantly 
adds  the  evangelist,  "Jesus  did  not  commit  Him- 
self unto  them,  because  he  knew  all  men."  He 
never  obtained  much  of  a  hearing  in  Jerusalem;  it 
was  from  the  humbler  fisher-folk  of  Galilee  that 
He  won  the  greatest  response  to  His  word,  despite 
the  scornful  Pharisaic  comment  of  a  later  period: 
"Search  and  see,  for  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no 
prophet."  The  hard,  fanatical,  fierce-minded  Jew- 
ish crowd  found  little  in  Jesus  to  understand  or 
revere. 

The  Interview  with  Nicodemus 

One  incident  stands  out  conspicuously,  however, 
in  contrast  to  the  general  barrenness  of  spiritual  re- 

172 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

suit  in  Jerusalem  at  this  beginning  of  Jesus'  mani- 
festation to  Israel.  A  certain  member  of  the 
Sanhedrin,  named  Nicodemus,  was  greatly  im- 
pressed by  what  he  had  heard  and  seen  of  the  new 
teacher  during  the  few  daj^s  of  the  feast.  The  Tal- 
mud mentions  a  person  of  this  name  of  great  wealth 
and  influence  whose  family  was  afterwards  reduced 
to  poverty  through  its  Christian  sympathies.  This 
may  have  been  the  Nicodemus  in  question;  in  fact, 
indications  point  that  waj^  It  is  clear  from  other 
references  to  him  in  this  gospel  that  he  must  later 
on  have  become  one  of  the  friends  of  Jesus,  though 
not  openly  identified  with  His  cause.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  their  acquaintance  he  is  shown  coming 
to  the  Master  by  night  and  seeking  speech  with 
Him.  Evidently  he  did  not  at  this  stage  wish  to 
incur  the  hostility  of  his  colleagues  in  the  Sanhe- 
drin, and  yet  confesses  himself  deeply  moved  by 
what  he  had  heard  and  seen  of  Jesus.  The  Temple 
cleansing  was  no  doubt  part  of  this,  and  Nicodemus 
himself  may  have  been  a  member  of  the  deputation 
sent  to  ask  Jesus  for  a  sign  of  His  prophetical  gifts. 
He  now  begins  the  private  conversation  by  ad- 
dressing the  young  Galilean  carpenter  as  rabbi, 
a  title  of  respect  and  courtesy  which  would  not  be 
bestowed  lightly.  "We  know  that  thou  art  a 
teacher  come  from  God,"  he  continues,  "for  no  man 
can  do  these  signs  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be 
with  him."  Who  are  the  "we"  thus  referred  to? 
Was  this  Nicodemus'  way  of  stating  that  other 
members  of  the  deputation,  or  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
had  been  convinced  in  the  same  way  as  he  of  Jesus' 

173 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

right  to  speak  in  the  name  of  God?  He  puts  no 
question  in  so  many  words,  but  that  on  which  he 
sought  enhghtenment  is  clear  enough  from  the 
Master's  response.  Like  all  earnest  spirits  of  the 
time  Nicodemus  wanted  to  know  about  the  advent 
of  the  heavenly  Kingdom  and  what  the  conditions 
of  its  manifestation  might  be.  The  answer  was 
surprising:  "Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  can- 
not see  the  Kingdom  of  God."  The  expression 
puzzled  Nicodemus,  so  Jesus  went  on  to  explain: 
"That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit."  And  this 
time  also  He  added,  "except  a  man  be  born  of 
water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God." 

The  authenticity  of  these  words  has  been  ques- 
tioned on  the  ground  that  they  reflect  the  later  prac- 
tice of  the  Church  rather  than  our  Lord's  own 
teaching  at  the  very  outset  of  His  ministry.  This 
may  be  true,  but  there  is  a  prior  explanation.  We 
are  here  dealing,  not  with  the  ordinary  Galilean 
public  which  listened  to  His  words  on  the  hillsides 
and  by  the  lake  shores,  but  with  a  fully  instructed 
doctor  of  the  Law.  "Art  thou  a  master  of  Israel, 
and  knowest  not  these  things?"  continues  the  pas- 
sage attributed  to  Jesus.  Obviously  He  expected 
Nicodemus  to  understand.  The  moral  significance 
of  baptism  by  water  was  familiar  enough  to  Phari- 
sees at  this  period  as  we  have  already  had  occasion 
to  observe.  The  Baptist  had  prescribed  it  as  a 
definite  act  denoting  the  passage  from  the  ordinary 
life  of  the  world  to  that  of  obedience  to  the  com- 

174 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

mandments  of  God  and  preparation  for  the  Mes- 
sianic advent.  Jesus  Himself  had  undergone  bap- 
tism at  John's  hands;  so  had  some  of  the  Phari- 
sees, including  perhaps  Nicodemus.  AVhat  should 
this  have  conveyed  to  the  mind  of  the  suppliant 
who  stood  in  the  presence  of  the  new  teacher? 
It  should  have  taught  him  that  the  Kingdom  of 
God  for  which  he  so  earnestly  longed  was  not 
merely  to  be  an  external  institution  but  a  condi- 
tion of  mind  and  heart;  only  those  whose  souls 
were  right  with  God  could  attain  to  membership 
therein.  The  formal  act  of  the  will,  the  state  of 
repentance  or  consecration  to  God,  denoted  by  sub- 
mission to  baptism,  and  accepted  of  God  as  wit- 
nessed b}^  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  the  essen- 
tial condition  of  the  new  and  higher  mode  of 
life  which  the  very  phrase  the  Kingdom  of  God 
assumes.  The  Kingdom  must  be  inward  and  spiri- 
tual in  order  to  become  outward  and  material. 
Nicodemus  ought  to  have  known  this,  and  in  a  sense 
perhaps  did,  but  his  conventional  world  had  still 
a  great  hold  upon  him  and  he  was  unwilling  to 
break  with  it.  Once  after  this  we  hear  of  him  from 
his  seat  in  the  Sanhedrin  putting  in  a  plea  for 
moderation  in  the  attitude  the  majority  were  tak- 
ing towards  Jesus;  and  again  he  appears  after  the 
tragedy  of  Calvary,  to  assist  with  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathfea  at  the  burial  of  the  Lord. 

We  may  reasonably  take  for  granted  that  this 
public  appearance  of  Jesus  in  the  south  had  still 
some  connection  with  the  preaching  of  the  Baptist. 
But  the  Baptist  was  arrested  by  Herod  Antipas 

175 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

directly  afterwards  for  his  boldness  in  rebuking 
the  tyrant's  adulterous  union  with  his  brother's 
wife.  Consequentlj''  Jesus  decides  to  return  for  the 
time  being  to  His  own  province.  The  evangelist 
tells  us  that  immediate^  previous  to  his  arrest  the 
Baptist  had  been  exercising  his  ministry  at  a  place 
called  Aenon  near  to  Salim,  probably  a  few  miles 
distant  from  Jerusalem;  and  that  Jesus  and  His 
disciples  also  went  out  into  the  country  round  about 
the  capital  and  there  carried  on  a  ministry  similar 
to  that  of  John,  the  disciples  baptizing  their  Mas- 
ter's converts.  Some  of  John's  disciples  brought 
word  to  their  master  about  this:  "Rabbi,  He  that 
was  with  thee  beyond  Jordan,  to  whom  thou  barest 
witness,  behold,  the  same  baptizeth,  and  all  men 
come  to  Him."  John's  noble  answer  is  a  testimony 
to  his  moral  greatness.  "A  man  can  receive  noth- 
ing, except  it  be  given  him  from  heaven" — or 
rather,  "can  take  nothing  upon  himself."  "This 
my  joy  therefore  is  fulfilled.  He  must  increase, 
but  I  must  decrease." 

It  should  be  pointed  out  that  here,  as  in  the  con- 
versation with  Nicodemus  and  elsewhere  through- 
out the  book,  it  is  difficult  on  occasion  to  say  where 
the  words  reported  leave  off  and  the  comment  of 
the  evangelist  himself  begins.  "He  that  cometh 
from  above  is  above  all,"  etc.^ 

The  first  intimation  of  Pharasaic  hostility  to 
Jesus  is  now  forthcoming  and  has  given  us  the  im- 
mediate reason  for  His  departure  to  Galilee.    He 

^  "A  blending  of  fact  and  interpretation,"  Sanday:  Criticism  ol 
the  Fourth  Gospel,  "The  Nature  of  the  Discourses,"  p.  169. 

176 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

was  told  by  the  disciples  that  it  was  seen  and  heard 
that  He  baptized  more  disciples  than  John,  though 
it  was  the  disciples  and  not  Himself  that  did  the 
baptizing.  He  had  no  desire  to  come  into  collision 
with  the  authorities  as  yet,  so  He  thought  it  best 
to  withdraw  from  the  neighborhood.  With  John 
in  prison  and  his  movement  suppressed,  there  could 
be  small  protection  for  an  imitator  or  one  who  was 
thought  to  be  such.  Nor  would  the  Temple  officials 
be  likely  to  forget  or  overlook  the  slight  to  them- 
selves implied  in  His  action  in  turning  out  the 
money-changers  shortly  before.  So  He  took  His 
way  north,  going  by  the  short  road  which  lay 
through  Samaria.  The  author  of  the  gospel  is 
careful  to  note  the  fact  that  this  was  His  second 
visit  to  the  region  where  He  had  been  brought  up, 
since  the  Baptist's  public  announcement  of  Him  as 
the  chosen  of  God,  for  the  narrative  runs,  "He  left 
Judea  and  departed  again  into  Galilee." 

The  Woman  of  Samaria 

On  this  journey  He  paused  at  a  place  named 
Sychar — perhaps  the  modern  Askar — A-sychar — 
near  to  what  is  still  called  Jacob's  well.  Feeling 
tired  He  sat  down  on  the  parapet  of  the  well  while 
His  traveling  companions  went  into  the  city  to 
purchase  food.  A  woman  belonging  to  the  place 
came  to  the  well  to  draw  water,  and  the  Master 
asked  for  a  drink.  Without  directly  refusing,  the 
woman  expressed  extreme  surprise  at  the  request, 
for,  as  she  said,  the  speaker  was  evidently  a  Jew, 
and  Jews  were  not  accustomed  to  ask  favors  of 

177 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Samaritans.  It  should  be  observed  that  she  was 
not  accusing  Jesus  of  presumption  in  entreating  a 
kindness  which  she  had  no  mind  to  grant,  but  was 
simply  expressing  her  astonishment  that  a  person 
of  Jewish  race  should  condescend  to  have  anything 
whatever  to  do  with  a  Samaritan.  She  may  have 
given  Him  the  drink;  it  is  not  stated  that  she  re- 
frained from  doing  so. 

In  reply  to  the  woman's  expression  of  surprise 
at  a  Jew  asking  to  drink  from  a  Samaritan  water- 
pot,  seeing  that  the  Jews  regarded  every  Samari- 
tan as  vile  and  unclean,  Jesus  told  her  that  if  she 
only  knew  who  it  was  that  asked  this  favor,  she  in 
turn  would  have  asked  of  Him  the  gift  of  living 
water.  "Whosoever  drinketh  of  tliis  water  shall 
thirst  again:  but  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst;  but  the 
water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of 
water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life."  Her 
prosaic  mind  does  not  understand.  "Sir,  give  me 
this  water,  that  I  thirst  not,  neither  come  hither  to 
draw."  The  request  may  have  been  ironical ;  if  so, 
the  mood  did  not  long  continue.  The  Master  speed- 
ily made  her  aware  that  He  knew  all  about  her 
private  history,  concluding  with  an  impressive  dec- 
laration both  of  His  own  Messiahship  and  of  the 
universality  of  the  new  dispensation.  "The  hour 
Cometh  when  ye  shall  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor 
yet  at  Jerusalem,  worship  the  Father.  .  .  .  God  is 
Spirit;  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship 
in  spirit  and  in  truth."  The  immediate  sequel  of 
this  remarkable  conversation  was,  we  are  told,  that 

178 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

many  Samaritans  believed  on  Him  as  "indeed  the 
Christ,  the  Savior  of  the  world." 

Here  again  we  encounter  the  difficulty  already 
discussed,  that  Jesus  is  represented  as  explicitly 
stating  that  He  is  the  INIessiah,  numbers  of  people 
openly  acknowledging  the  fact,  whereas  elsewhere 
He  is  shown  preserving  the  strictest  reticence  on 
the  subject,  a  reticence  not  publicly  broken  until 
He  was  actually  on  His  trial  before  the  high  priest 
and  afterwards  before  Pilate.     We  are  more  than 
once  informed  also  that  people  in  general  differed 
among  themselves  on  the  question  who  and  what  He 
was.    It  is  doubtful  whether  these  discrepancies  of 
statement  can  be  completely  reconciled  by  means  of 
the  knowledge  at  present  at  our  command.     Here 
before   the   Galilean   ministry   commences    at    all, 
Jesus  without  hesitation  declares  His  identity,  and 
yet  afterwards  consistently  and  of  set  purpose  re- 
frains from  doing  so.     We  can  but  conclude  that 
His  self-disclosure  in  this  connection  did  not  carry 
with  it  to  His  Samaritan  hearers  the  full  implica- 
tions that  might  be  supposed.    This,  as  already  sug- 
gested, is  the  only  theory  that  will  fit  the  facts — if 
any  theory  will  fully  fit  the  facts.     INIessiahship 
cannot  have  received   the   definite   content   in   all 
minds  that  we  are  accustomed  to  ascribe  to  it,  and 
Jesus  was  such  a  Messiah  as  no  one  anticipated. 
What  pleased  Him  most  in  Peter's  avowal  later 
on  was  that,  after  knowing  Him  as  He  really  was, 
the  simple-hearted  fisherman  should  still  be  will- 
ing to  think  of  Him  as  the  desire  of  Israel ;  it  meant 
that  a  certain  shedding  of  preconceptions  of  the 


179 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

nature  of  Messiahship  had  been  going  on  in  the 
apostle's  mind.  That  the  word  Messiah  was  a 
more  loosety  used  term  than  we  should  otherwise 
infer  is  demonstrated  by  the  evidence  of  the  earlier 
ministry.  There  was  no  distinctively  Samaritan 
ministry:  hence  our  Lord's  frankness  on  the  occa- 
sion here  described  may  be  accounted  for  on  the 
hypothesis  that  no  harm  could  be  done  by  the  pass- 
ing disclosure,  the  significance  of  which  was  not 
likely  to  be  fully  grasped  or  to  cause  strife.  He 
planted  His  spiritual  seed,  and,  leaving  it  to  germi- 
nate, went  His  way. 

The  problem  is  much  more  difficult  when  we  come 
to  examine  the  Jerusalem  discourses  attributed  to 
Jesus  in  the  fourth  gospel.     From  the  very  first, 
according  to  these,  He  spoke  of  Himself  in  terms 
which  implied,  if  they  did  not  expressly  assert,  His 
Messiahship.     To  put  it  at  the  lowest  He  claimed 
a  position  in  relation  to  God  greater  than  that  of 
any  prophet.     He  is  said  to  have  antagonized  the 
Jews  by  this.     They  objected  to  His  referring  to 
God  as  His  Father,  thus  "making  himself  equal 
with  God."    He  then  falls  back  on  the  third  per- 
son, but  claims  for  the  "Son"  a  lordship  and  a 
power  to  execute  judgment  which  could  hardly  be 
predicated  of  any  other  than  the  Messiah.    He  de- 
clares that  the  scriptures  wrote  of  Him  and  that  He 
is  come  down  from  heaven  to  give  life  to  the  world. 
The  Jews  objected  to  this  statement  also  on  the 
ground   that  they   knew   His   earthly   parentage; 
and  His  life  was  no  longer  safe  amongst  them.    On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  clear  that  they  were 

180 


JESUS'  PUBLIC   LIFE 

not  agreed  upon  the  question  whether  He  actually 
meant  to  lay  claim  to  JMessiahship.  They  regarded 
His  words  as  enigmatic  and  disputed  about  their 
significance.  There  is  no  explicit  utterance  of  a 
public  character  in  St.  John's  gospel  any  more  than 
the  others  which  shows  that  Jesus  made  such  a 
claim  before  the  very  end.  That  He  drew  special 
attention  to  His  own  person  and  to  His  authority 
to  speak  in  the  name  of  God  is  beyond  doubt,  but 
that  He  ever  said  in  so  many  words  that  He  was 
the  Jewish  jMessiah  is  not  affirmed.  He  uses  freely 
the  title  Son  of  ]Man,  and  on  occasion  Son  of  God, 
but  the  meaning  of  this  self-designation  is  no  less 
a  problem  of  the  synoptics  than  of  the  fourth  gos- 
pel. One  thing  stands  out  plainly  in  the  latter  as 
in  the  former,  and  that  is  that  His  accusers  could 
produce  no  evidence  at  His  trial  that  He  had  ever 
said  He  was  the  INIessiah.  If  He  had  not  avowed 
it  Himself  there  and  then  they  would  have  been  at 
a  loss.  The  Roman  governor  did  not  trouble  to 
inquire  what  His  idea  of  Messiahship  was,  but 
had  Him  put  to  death  as  a  would-be  king  of 
the  Jews  and,  therefore,  a  possible  center  of  in- 
surrection against  the  Roman  overlordship  of  Pal- 
estine. 

This  digression  anticipates  somewhat  a  subject 
whose  treatment  more  fitly  belongs  to  a  later  stage 
but  is  presumed  from  the  first. 

The  Early  Galilean  Ministry 

It  is  now  that  the  Galilean  ministry  begins  with 
which  the  earlier  gospels  are  principally  concerned, 

181 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

According  to  St.  John  Jesus  obtained  His  hearing 
in  the  first  place  in  the  neighborhood  of  His  own 
home  because  of  what  had  been  reported  there  con- 
cerning His  doings  in  Jerusalem  at  the  feast  of  the 
Passover.^  A  short  period  of  retirement  may  have 
intervened,  but  it  could  not  have  been  long  before 
that  wonderful  period  of  teaching  and  healing  ac- 
tivity commenced  which  made  Jesus  generally 
known  in  the  province  and  even  beyond.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  in  St.  John's  version  again  we  have 
the  statement  that  He  returned  to  Cana  of  Galilee 
on  this  occasion,  and  while  stajang  there  paid  a 
special  visit  to  Capernaum  and  performed  another 
miracle — this  time  the  healing  of  a  certain  noble- 
man's son  who  was  at  the  point  of  death.^  There  is 
so  close  a  resemblance  between  the  account  of  this 
miracle  and  that  of  the  healing  of  the  centurion's 
servant  as  given  in  St.  INIatthew  ^°  and  St.  Luke  " 
that  many  persons  have  been  inclined  to  identify 
them.  But  the  identity  cannot  be  regarded  as  cer- 
tain ;  if  there  are  remarkable  coincidences  in  the  nar- 
rative of  these  two  events  there  are  no  less  notable 
differences. 

How  did  the  Galilean  ministry  open?  And  was 
there  anything  therein  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
brief  Judean  activities  recorded  in  St.  John?  The 
evangelists  testify  that  Jesus  began  to  teach  in  the 
synagogues,  which  custom  permitted  competent 
persons  to  do ;  and  we  are  led  to  infer  that  He  made 
a  practice  of  this  for  a  time,  beginning,  not  at 

8  John  iv.  45.  lo  Matt.  viii.  5  ff. 

« Ibid,  iv,  46-54.  "  Luke  vii.  1  ff, 

182 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

Nazareth,  but  at  Capernaum.  Capernaum  may 
thus  have  been  chosen  from  the  consideration  al- 
ready advanced,  that  the  first  disciples  had  associa- 
tions with  that  place.  But  He  did  not  confine  His 
activities  to  one  center  only,  and  His  fame  soon 
spread  everywhere  round  about.  It  is  stated  by  St. 
Luke  that  He  did  at  Xazareth  what  He  had  already 
been  doing  in  other  centers,  stood  up  in  the  syna- 
gogue on  the  Sabbath  to  read  and  expound  the 
scripture.  His  old  neighbors  were  very  desirous 
to  hear  Him  because  of  the  stories  which  had 
reached  them  concerning  His  doings  elsewhere." 
He  read  and  applied  to  Himself  the  words  of 
Isaiah  Ixi.  1 :  "The  spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is  upon 
me,"  etc.  "This  day  is  the  scripture  fulfilled  in 
your  ears,"  He  declared.  The  claim  irritated  His 
hearers,  they  regarded  it  as  gross  presumption; 
and  they  promptly  showed  their  displeasure  by  ex- 
pelling Him  from  their  community  and  in  their 
fanatical  rage  attempting  to  fling  Him  over  the 
cliff  on  which  their  little  town  stood.  Something  in 
His  demeanor,  however,  excited  sufficient  awe 
within  their  breasts  to  restrain  them  from  proceed- 
ing to  extremities,  and  "He  passing  through  the 
midst  of  them  went  His  way."  Henceforth  He 
dwelt  in  Capernaum,  but  there  may  have  been  an- 
other occasion  when  He  visited  Nazareth,  accord- 
ing to  Matthew  and  INIark.  This  time  the  assembly 
in  the  synagogue  was  sufficiently  impressed  not  to 
exhibit  any  violence  towards  Him,  but  was  still 

12  Luke  Iv.  23. 

183 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

jealously  antipathetic/^  "He  did  not  many  mighty 
works  there  because  of  their  unbelief."  "A  prophet 
is  not  without  honor,  save  in  His  own  country  and 
in  his  own  house,"  was  the  Master's  comment  upon 
His  failure  to  reach  their  hearts. 

His  reception  in  Capernaum  was  very  different. 
For  some  time  He  taught  there  in  the  synagogue 
on  the  Sabbath  days,  a  high  testimony  to  the  im- 
pression He  produced  upon  His  new  neighbors. 
If  there  had  not  been  a  considerable  desire  to  lis- 
ten to  Him  He  would  certainly  not  have  been  al- 
lowed by  the  synagogue  authorities  to  assume  the 
position  of  a  teacher  there  week  after  week.  From 
now  His  public  work  begins  to  take  on  a  character 
distinct  from  that  of  the  Baptist.  The  call  and 
selection  of  the  twelve  apostles,  and  afterwards  of 
a  larger  band  of  seventy  disciples,^*  we  may  regard 
as  the  forming  of  the  nucleus  of  the  Christian 
Church.  If  we  possessed  only  the  synoptic  record 
of  events  we  might  suppose  that  the  two  pairs  of 
brothers,  Simon  and  Andrew,  James  and  John, 
were  summoned  from  their  occupations  without  any 
previous  preparation  or  acquaintance  with  the 
Master.  This  would  be  unlikely  in  any  case,  but 
from  John's  account,  as  we  have  seen,  we  are  made 
aware  that  there  was  a  previous  association  of  a 
very  definite  character.  It  is  evident  that  these 
men  had  been  much  in  the  company  of  Jesus  from 
the  time  when  He  and  they  were  first  brought  into 
touch  by  the  Baptist  at  the  Jordan.    No  doubt  they 

13  Matt.  xiii.  54  ff;  Mark  vi.  1-6. 

14  Luke  X.  1  ff. 

184 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

had  returned  to  their  customary  avocations  in  Gali- 
lee, but  with  the  mutual  understanding  that  when 
Jesus  was  ready  for  their  cooperation  He  would 
come  for  them.  This  is  what  now  happened,  and 
according  to  promise  they  immediately  left  every- 
thing and  followed  Him.  The  third  evangelist 
places  the  call  some  time  after  the  commencement 
of  the  synagogue  ministry  in  Capernaum,  accom- 
panied as  it  was  by  miraculous  cures  of  disease. 
The  Master  healed  Simon's  wife's  mother  of  a  fever; 
He  also  made  use  of  Simon's  boat  as  a  pulpit  where- 
from  to  address  the  crowds  on  the  shore  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  and  at  the  close  of  the  discourse  made 
the  fisherman  thrust  out  into  the  deep  and  let  down 
his  nets.  Then  ensued  the  miraculous  draught  of 
fishes,  which  so  impressed  Simon  that  he  fell  upon 
his  knees  crying,  "Depart  from  me;  for  I  am  a 
sinful  man,  O  Lord."  It  was  in  this  connection 
that  Jesus  uttered  the  words,  "Fear  not;  from 
henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men."  ^^  The  first  two 
gospels  have  it,  "Follow  me  and  I  will  make  you 
fishers  of  men."  "  St.  Luke's  version  is  interesting 
as  showing  the  events  which  immediately  preceded 
the  call.  It  is  John  who  tells  us  how  the  name 
Peter,  used  in  the  synoptics  from  the  first,  came 
to  be  bestowed.  Their  message  was  the  same  in 
every  case.  Thej^  were  to  announce  the  near  advent 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  There  is  no  indication 
that  they  were  authorized  or  qualified  to  teach; 
their  function  simply  was  to  declare  that  the  hope 

^5  Luke  V.  1-11. 

"  Matt.  iv.  18-22 ;  Mark  i.  16-20. 

185 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

of  generations  was  about  to  be  fulfilled;  they  did 
not  enter  into  any  particulars  as  to  how  it  was  to 
be  fulfilled. 

It  is  this  proclamation  of  the  Kingdom,  and  the 
association  of  it  with  the  person  of  Jesus  that  is  the 
new  feature  in  His  preaching  as  distinct  from  that 
of  the  Baptist.  Otherwise  He  began  with  the  very 
same  words  as  those  which  characterized  John's 
ministry:  "Repent,  for  the  Kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand." 

Works  of  Healing 

A  subject  of  outstanding  importance  from  this 
point  onward  is  that  of  the  miracles  attributed  to 
Jesus.^^  The  miracle  of  Cana  was  not  publicly  per- 
formed, and  the  guests  themselves  who  were  pres- 
ent at  the  wedding  feast  do  not  appear  to  have 
realized  that  anything  out  of  the  common  had  taken 
place.  But  a  constant  accompaniment  of  the  public 
activity  of  Jesus  was  His  beneficent  exercise  of 
supernatural  power.  He  is  said  to  have  performed 
miraculous  cures  from  the  very  beginning  of  His 
public  appearances  in  Galilee.    In  the  synagogue  at 

1^  We  cannot  expect  to  find  ancient  evidence  that  will  come  up  to 
modern  standards.  Consequently  we  can  neither  accept  nor  deny, 
in  any  dogmatic  way.  such  psychical  stories  as  those  in  Herodotus, 
or  the  miracle  narratives  of  the  world's  sacred  writings.  But  in 
so  far  as  the  happenings  described  in  the  old  narratives  conform 
to  types  which  are  recognizable  in  the  phenomena  of  to-day,  they 
may  at  least  provisionally  be  considered  likely  enough.  For  ex- 
ample, all  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament  are  credible  to  any 
one  who  has  done  much  psychical  investigation,  for  he  comes  across 
more  or  less  similar  things ;  things,  at  any  rate,  sufficiently  similar 
to  warrant  the  belief  that  where  the  modern  phenomena  fall  short 
of  the  ancient,  the  reason  is  that  in  the  case  of  these  latter  a  higher 
and  more  powerful  Personality  was  concerned. — J.  Arthur  Hill: 
Psychical  Investigations,  p.  247. 

186 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

Capernaum,  henceforth  regarded  as  His  own  city, 
and  on  the  Sabbath  day.  He  healed  a  man  with  an 
unclean  spirit.^^  This  event  caused  the  greatest  ex- 
citement in  the  region  round  about,  and  from  that 
time  forward  He  was  expected  to  heal  sickness  and 
disease  wherever  He  went.  That  the  news  of  His 
wonder-working  powers  spread  rapidly  throughout 
Galilee  is  illustrated  by  what  St.  Luke  tells  us  of 
His  reception  in  Nazareth.  "Whatsoever  we  have 
heard  done  in  Capernaum,  do  also  here  in  thy  coun- 
try." Immense  throngs  now  followed  Him  every- 
where, and  He  found  it  difficult  to  secure  privacy. 
"All  men  seek  for  thee"  "  was  the  salutation  of  the 
apostles  when  they  discovered  Him  in  one  place  of 
retreat.  He  worked  no  wonders  for  the  sake  of 
impressing  people;  His  healing  ministry  was  from 
first  to  last  simply  one  of  mercy,  and  He  repeatedly 
desired  that  too  much  attention  should  not  be  di- 
rected to  it.  A  great  wave  of  popularity  carried 
Him  very  high  in  public  estimation  for  a  time,  but 
He  was  never  deceived  thereby ;  He  knew  that  there 
was  little  spirituality  in  the  attitude  of  His  con- 
temporaries towards  Him.  The  Pharisees  them- 
selves are  represented  as  at  first  associating  with 
Him  and  being  ready  to  use  Him  as  an  instrument 
for  the  furtherance  of  their  own  peculiar  aims ;  but 
soon  this  feeling  on  their  part  ©hanged.  He  re- 
fused to  honor  their  punctiliousness  in  matters  of 
ritual  observance  and  the  like.  Ere  long,  as  we 
shall  see.  He  made  the  breach  complete  by  delib- 
erately going  to  the  outcast  classes  which  were  de- 

18  Mark  i.  23-28.  ^9  Ibid  i.  37. 

187 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

barred  attendance  at  the  sj^nagogue.  The  ortho- 
dox became  openly  hostile  to  Him  and  He  to  them. 
They  were  scandalized  by  the  fact  that  not  only 
did  He  eat  and  drink  with  publicans  and  sinners, 
but  that  He  and  His  followers  were  not  in  their 
judgment  sufficiently  rigid  about  fasting  and  keep- 
ing the  Sabbath.  Worst  of  all  He  dared  to  for- 
give sins,  which  to  them  seemed  blasphemous.  In 
time  this  opposition  drew  to  a  head,  and  the  Phari- 
sees of  Galilee  made  common  cause  with  the  priestly 
party  at  Jerusalem,  and  also  with  the  Herodians, 
in  the  effort  to  destroy  Him.  How  far  popular 
favor  waned  it  is  hard  to  judge.  There  is  nothing 
to  show  that  the  poor  people  of  Galilee  among 
whom  His  best  work  was  done  ever  wholly  turned 
against  Him.  With  the  bigoted,  intractable  mob 
at  Jerusalem — the  Jews  as  St.  John  calls  them — it 
was  different. 

How  did  the  people  think  of  Him?  Plainly  they 
regarded  Him  as  a  mysterj'-.  They  saw  that  He 
spoke  with  a  personal  authority  which  ordinary  re- 
ligious teachers  did  not  employ.  They  could  not 
but  note  also  that  in  some  way  His  personality  was 
connected  with  the  Messianic  hope.  But  beyond 
that  the}^  knew  nothing.  They  did  not  expect  the 
Messiah  to  come  as  a  peripatetic  preacher,  nor  did 
they  think  of  Him  as  likely  to  be  born  and  brought 
up  in  Galilee.  Hence  when  they  spoke  of  Jesus 
it  was  usually  as  a  prophet.  "A  great  prophet  is 
arisen  among  us;  and  God  hath  visited  His 
people."  =° 

20  Luke  vii.  16. 

188 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

It  is  St.  Matthew  who  presents  us  with  the  clear- 
est picture  of  Jesus'  method  of  working.  He  tells 
us  that  immediately  after  the  first  phase  of  the 
synagogue  ministry  people  pressed  upon  Him  from 
everywhere.  "There  followed  him  great  multi- 
tudes of  people  from  Galilee,  and  from  Decapolis, 
and  from  Jerusalem,  and  from  Judea,  and  from 
beyond  Jordan."  "^  This  is  the  most  distinct  infor- 
mation we  possess  that  the  whole  of  Palestine  was 
aroused  by  the  news  of  the  sayings  and  doings  of 
Jesus,  and  that  many  made  the  journey  from  other 
parts  to  see  Him  and  hear  Him  in  Galilee.  So  far 
as  Jerusalem  was  concerned  the  memory  of  the  in- 
cidents attending  His  appearance  in  the  Temple  at 
the  feast  of  the  Passover  following  the  Temptation 
would  be  enough  to  make  dwellers  there  desire  to 
know  more  of  Him,  and  what  they  heard  from  Gali- 
lee would  increase  that  desire.  Samaria  alone  was 
apparently  so  cut  off  from  sympathy  with  Jewish 
movements  as  to  remain  comparatively  untouched, 
the  brief  visit  to  Sychar  already  mentioned  being 
an  exception.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  Samaritans 
would  have  been  welcomed  by  those  composing  the 
Master's  ordinary  congregations. 

Public  Teaching 

Matthew  states  that  early  in  the  Galilean  minis- 
try "seeing  the  multiudes,  he  went  up  into  a 
mountain;  and  when  he  was  set," — ^that  is,  had 
fixed  His  temporary  abode  there — "his  disciples 

21  Matt.  iv.  25. 

i8d 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

came  unto  him."  "  Then  follows  the  hnmortal  com- 
pendium of  teaching  commonty  called  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  But  it  was  not  a  sermon  in  the 
sense  of  being  a  connected  discourse.  The  late 
Professor  A.  B.  Bruce  remarked  that  it  could  more 
fitly  be  described  as  the  Teaching  on  the  Hill.^^ 
That  there  was  such  a  special  session  there  can  be 
no  doubt,  though  the  allusions  to  it  are  so  slight  and 
the  content  of  the  teaching  given  on  the  occasion  is 
so  difficult  to  determine.  It  was  a  kind  of  summer 
school  of  religion  held  in  the  open  air  on  the  sum- 
mit of  a  Galilean  hill,  and  may  have  lasted  for 
weeks  instead  of  only  for  one  day  or  part  of  a  day. 
The  account  of  it  given  by  the  first  evangelist  gives 
ground  for  supposing  that  it  did  not  consist  of  a 
promiscuous  assemblage  of  people,  but  rather  of 
professed  disciples  who  had  come  together  in  a  com- 
paratively secluded  spot  in  order  to  be  instructed 
in  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  en- 
tire setting  and  subject  matter  of  the  so-called 
sermon  attest  this.  To  begin  with,  we  have  a  with- 
drawal from  public  activity  indicated  in  the  terms 
wherewith  the  body  of  teaching  is  introduced — 
"multitudes"  contrasted  with  "disciples."  The  lat- 
ter are  said  to  have  come  to  Jesus,  apparently  by 
special  arrangement,  after  He  had  established 
Himself  in  the  mountain  aforesaid.  Wliat  can  this 
mean  but  that  the  locality  was  chosen  in  order  to 
be  comparatively  free  from  the  bustle  and  disturb- 
ance of  ordinary  life,  especially  of  the  life  of  ac- 

^^Ibid  V.  1. 

'^^Expositor's  Greek  Testament,  "Synoptical  Gospels,"  p.  94. 

190 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

tivity  upon  which  Jesus  had  now  entered?  He 
wanted  to  get  away  from  this  for  a  time  in  order  to 
come  into  closer  relations  with  those  who  were 
henceforth  to  be  accounted  of  His  more  immediate 
following  and  to  form  the  foundation  of  the  so- 
ciety that  was  to  witness  Him  in  the  world.  We 
can  hardly  be  taking  too  much  for  granted  in  con- 
cluding that  this  was  the  INIaster's  purpose.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  what  other  purpose  He  could  have 
had  in  mind,  and  that  we  are  not  mistaken  in  pre- 
suming so  far  upon  the  facts  at  our  command  is 
confirmed  by  several  considerations.  For  one 
thing,  the  larger  part  of  the  collected  sayings  is 
manifestly  addressed,  not  to  Israel  as  a  whole,  much 
less  to  the  world  at  large,  but  to  selected  persons, 
and  who  can  these  be  but  the  nucleus  of  the  new 
or  spiritual  Israel,  the  Church  that  was  presently 
to  be  formed  ?  '*  This  view  also  explains  some  of  the 
more  difficult  sayings;  they  were  not  for  society  in 
general,  but  for  individuals  gathered  out  of  it  and 
living  in  relation  to  a  higher  law.  To  this  hour 
the  meaning  of  the  beatitudes  is  not  beyond  dis- 
pute, nor  even  their  form.  No  one  can  avoid  seeing 
that  St.  Luke's  version  of  these  does  not  say  the 
same  thing  as  St.  Matthew's,  but  something  widely 
different,  and  yet  the  resemblances  between  them 
are  such  as  to  demonstrate  their  common  origin. 
Some  authorities  deny  the  ethical  significance  of  the 
beatitudes  altogether — a  short-sighted  judgment, 
indeed,  but  not  without  some  literal  justification. 
We  have  to  look  beneath  the  striking  and  imperish- 

^*Vide  Hamilton:  People  of  God,  Vol.  II,  pp.  27-33  and  59-66. 

191 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

able  paradoxes,  at  the  spirit  rather  than  the  letter 
of  them,  and  to  view  them  in  conjunction  with  all 
the  rest  of  Jesus'  recorded  utterances  and  His  gen- 
eral ideal  of  life  and  conduct,  in  order  to  arrive  at 
a  true  understanding  of  their  eternal  significance. 
Is  not  this  a  sign  that  they  were  originally  spoken 
to  an  eclectic  circle  and  one  specially  and  carefully 
prepared  to  receive  them? 

This  theory  or  more  than  theory  is  supported  by 
what  has  been  established  concerning  the  composi- 
tion of  the  non-Marcan  document  already  referred 
to  as  the  main  source  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus.  Scholars  call  this  by  the  tech- 
nical name  of  Q  because  its  origin  is  an  un- 
solved problem.  The  most  plausible  as  well  as 
the  most  attractive  view  of  its  origin  up  to  the 
present  is  that  it  is  Matthew  the  publican's  own 
first-hand  report  of  what  his  Master  said,  especially 
at  this  memorable  session  in  the  hill  country  of 
Galilee.  Expert  critics  of  the  gospels  do  not  gain- 
say this  possibility;  Harnack  in  particular  admits 
that  there  is  a  strong  presumption  in  its  favor, 
though  no  more  can  be  affirmed  positively.^^  The 
authority  for  it  is  Papias,  quoted  above,  whose  per- 
sonal  knowledge  and  recollection  go  back  almost  to 
apostolic  times.  According  to  Eusebius,  Papias 
credited  Matthew  the  apostle  with  having  written 
a  collection  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  in  Hebrew — - 
that  is,  no  doubt,  in  the  Aramaic  dialect  in  which 
they  were  uttered.  If  this  collection  has  not  been 
entirely  lost  it  may  lie  behind  the  bulk  of  what  our 

26  Sayings  of  Jesus,  p.  249, 

193 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

'canonical  Matthew  gives  us  of  the  sermon  on  the 
Mount  and  some  other  portions  of  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  as  preserved  in  this  gospel.  One  would  be 
glad  to  think  so,  for  if  this  be  the  truth  of  the 
matter  we  are  taken  right  to  the  fountainhead  of 
the  Christian  Gospel.^^  And  why  should  it  not  be 
true?  Matthew's  avocation  required  that  he  should 
be  able  to  write  in  the  vernacular,  which  is  what 
Papias  says  he  did  in  this  instance.  It  is  impres- 
sive to  think  of  the  publican-apostle  taking  down 
from  the  very  lips  of  Jesus  the  words  of  eternal 
life  substantially  as  we  have  them  to-day;  and  if 
this  memorable  note-taking  took  place  at  the  sum- 
mer school  in  the  heart  of  the  Galilean  hills  the  re- 
sult would  almost  coincide  with  the  content  of  Q. 
Let  any  student  of  the  gospels  read  through  the 
sayings  comprised  in  Q  as  reconstructed  by,  say, 
Harnack,  and  he  cannot  fail  to  note  the  moral  lofti- 
ness and  spiritual  purity  of  the  content  and  its  as- 
tonishing freedom  from  local  and  racial  prejudices 
and  limitations;  in  fact,  its  universality  is  its  most 
outstanding  feature  and  would  serve  to  stamp  it 
unique  apart  from  all  other  claims  to  considera- 
tion. Harnack  very  justly  says  that  it  is  without 
bias  of  any  kind  which  criticism  can  detect.^^    Here 

26  Prof.  A.  B.  Bruce  says  (Expositor's  Greek  Test.,  p.  17)  :  "Jesus 
associated  Matthew  with  Himself  that  He  might  use  him  as  an  in- 
strument for  initiating  a  mission  to  the  class  to  which  he  had  be- 
longed. But  if  the  Master  might  call  a  fit  man  to  discipleship  for 
one  form  of  immediate  service,  He  might  call  him  for  more  than 
one.  Another  service  the  ex-publican  might  be  able  to  render  was 
that  of  secretary.  In  his  old  occupation  he  would  be  accustomed  to 
writing,  and  it  might  be  Christ's  desire  to  utilize  that  talent  for 
noting  down  things  worthy  of  record.  The  gift  would  be  most  in 
demand  in  connection  with  the  teaching  of  the  Master." 

27  Sayings  of  Jesus,  p.  168. 

193 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

we  have  the  key  to  the  mind  of  Jesus,  to  all  that 
He  thouglit  and  said  and  to  His  view  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  His  person  and  work.  We  are  safe 
in  interpreting  everything  else  in  the  gospels  from 
the  standpoint  of  this  body  of  teaching,  Mark's^ 
history  not  excluded,  for  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  in  this  collection  of  sayings  we  have  an  earlier 
record  than  Mark's — in  all  probability  the  very 
earliest  stratum  in  the  New  Testament  and  the 
source  which  takes  us  nearest  to  Jesus  Himself  as 
seen  and  known  by  His  contemporaries.  More- 
over, as  we  have  seen  reason  to  believe,  this  precious 
possession  was  preserved  for  us  by  Jesus'  own  de- 
liberate act  in  gathering  round  Him  on  a  Galilean 
hillside  a  company  of  persons  who  were  later  to 
form  the  Christian  society  at  its  beginnings  and  to 
whom  He  could  at  His  leisure  present  the  charter 
of  the  new  order  that  society  was  to  witness  for  and 
attempt  to  realize  in  the  world. 

The  critical  theory  that  the  differences  between 
Matthew's  and  Luke's  versions  of  the  greater  say- 
ings included  in  Q  may  be  explained  by  assuming 
diverse  translations  from  an  Aramaic  original  will 
not  carry  us  far  in  an  attempt  to  find  an  elucidation 
of  the  problem.  A  much  more  satisfactory  hy- 
pothesis, and  not  a  far-fetched  one,  is  that  Matthew 
was  not  the  only  note-taker  at  the  great  hill  session 
where  most  if  not  all  of  the  teaching  contained  in 
Q  was  originally  given,  though  portions  of  it  might 
be  repeated  at  intervals  later  and  in  modified  form. 
If,  for  instance,  we  accept  the  reasonable  supposi- 
tion that  each  beatitude  represented  the  subject  of 

194 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

the  lesson  for  one  day  we  can  readily  discern  a 
sequence  of  thought  polarized  by  the  two  evange- 
lists respectively.    Take  the  first  beatitude  as  pre- 
sented by  Matthew,  to  illustrate  this  method  of  ex- 
position.    It  has  been  suggested  that  the  addition 
of  the  two  words  "in  spirit"  to  Luke's  bolder  and 
more  abrupt,  "Blessed  are  ye  poor"  is  due  to  later 
ecclesiastical  influence,  the  toning  down  of  a  hard 
saying  to  suit  changing  circumstances.     But,  tak- 
ing for  granted  that  at  least  one  whole  discourse 
was  devoted  to  this  particular  phase  of  a  spiritual 
ideal,  and  that  there  was  more  than  one  recorder  of 
the  aphorism  or  aphorisms  in  which  the  lesson  was 
conveyed,  there  is  no  great  difficulty  in  inferring 
what  could  conceivably  have  happened  on  the  occa- 
sion.   The  bulk  of  Jesus'  audience  consisted  of  poor 
people  one  and  all  of  whom  were  looking  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God  but  not  quite  sure  what  it  would 
mean  for  them.     If  it  meant  no  more  than  a  sort 
of  glorified  restoration  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of 
Israel,  it  would  involve  little  change  in  social  ar- 
rangements; those  in  authority  would  remain  in 
authority ;  the  poor  would  remain  the  poor,  though 
better  off  and  free  from  anxiety  for  daily  bread; 
those  in  possession  of  riches  would  retain  the  extra 
importance  riches  had  hitherto  conferred.     In  a 
word,  the  revival  of  Israel's  ancient  autonomy,  with 
a  new  splendor  and  prosperity  added  by  special 
favor  of  the  Most  High,  would  not  effect  any  very 
great  change  in  the  relative  social  status  of  the  va- 
rious individuals  and  classes  that  made  up  the  Jew- 
ish nation. 

195 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Jesus  had  now  to  show  these  hearers  of  His  that 
the  Kingdom  or  rule  or  reign  of  God  was  before 
all  else  a  spiritual  state,  not  a  secular  dominion, 
Jewish  or  otherwise.  He  did  not  contradict  the 
prevailing  assumption  because  it  had  a  germ  of 
truth  in  it,  namely,  that  a  regenerated  human  so- 
ciety would  be  the  social  expression  of  the  spiritual 
idea  thus  presented.  But  He  must  have  startled 
the  assemblage  of  humble  people  when  He  began 
His  instruction  by  saying,  "Blessed  are  ye  poor  for 
the  Kingdom  is  yours" — that  is,  more  easily  acces- 
sible to  you  than  to  others  whom  you  account  more 
fortunate.  Then  would  naturally  follow  the  ex- 
planation, so  true  in  that  hard  age  as  in  most  ages 
since,  that  the  poor  are  by  the  very  conditions  of 
their  lot  less  likely  to  be  deceived  about  themselves 
and  the  realities  of  life  than  the  rich  and  highly 
placed.  They  have  fewer  temptations  to  artificial- 
ity, pride,  vanity,  arrogance,  and  pretense.  They 
are  not  so  likely  to  overvalue  themselves  or  to  re- 
gard themselves  as  of  special  importance  in  the 
world.  Simplicity,  humility,  sincerity  are  qualities 
which  flourish  better  in  the  cottage  than  the  palace. 
There  is  a  spirit  natural  to  the  poor  man  which  is 
not  so  commonly  found  among  those  who  are  not 
poor,  or  we  do  not  expect  so  to  find  it  in  our  ex- 
perience of  ordinary  humankind.  Yet  occasion- 
ally we  do  so  find  it  among  the  mighty  ones  of 
earth,  the  great,  the  powerful,  the  wealthy — rarely, 
it  must  be  admitted,  but  a  lowly  heart  does  some- 
times beat  in  the  breast  of  one  who  gives  law  to 
nations,  and  the  man  of  great  possessions  may  also 

196 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

be  a  man  of  simple  character  and  unpretentious 
mode  of  life.  This  remark  applies  to  treasures  of 
intellect  as  well  as  of  gold  and  silver ;  it  is  hard  for 
a  man  to  estimate  his  own  worth  aright  if  he  is 
marked  off  from  his  fellows  in  either  way.  Jesus 
knew  this,  and  the  beatitude  we  are  considering  is 
one  statement  of  the  truth  just  as  the  startling 
saying,  that  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through 
the  eve  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  is  another.  If  then  He  began 
with  Luke's  version  of  the  beatitudes  He  would 
conclude  His  lesson  with  Matthew's:  Blessed  is 
that  man  who,  whether  he  be  poor  or  rich,  can  keep 
the  spirit  which  is  most  natural  to  a  poor  man — 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit  for  theirs  is  the 
Kingdom  of  heaven." 

To  examine  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  detail  is 
impossible  in  a  work  like  the  present,  and  it  has 
alreadv  been  elaboratelv  and  exhaustivelv  done  by 
eminent  exegetes.  We  can  but  draw  attention  to 
special  portions  of  it  as  the  gospel  story  passes  in 
review.  There  is  hardly  anything  in  the  words 
of  Jesus  as  preserved  by  the  evangelists  which  is 
entirely  new.  Much  of  it  was  anticipated  or  paral- 
leled in  such  writings  as  the  Testaments  of  the 
Twelve  Patriarchs.  His  distinction  consists  ratherj 
in  grouping  and  condensing  the  best  that  Old  Tes- 
tament religion  had  bequeathed  than  in  adducing 
an  element  indisputably  original.  It  was  He  Him- 
self that  was  original;  He  was  the  embodiment  of 
what  He  taught.  He  had  the  difficult,  one  might 
think    the    impossible    task,    of    addressing    pro- 

197 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

miscuous  gatherings  of  Palestinian  Jews  in  terms 
which  would  suffice  for  all  ages  to  come,  and  He 
succeeded.  The  teaching  of  Jesus  never  grows 
old,  never  loses  aught  of  its  power  and  charm.  And 
when  we  remember  that  we  only  possess  it  at  sec- 
ond-hand, that  is,  as  mediated  through  the  recol- 
lection of  a  few  of  those  who  originally  heard 
it,  the  marvel  becomes  all  the  greater.  Compare  it 
with  the  letters  of  that  man  of  genius,  the  apostle 
Paul,  who  wrote  his  epistles  before  the  bulk  of  what 
now  constitutes  the  New  Testament  had  come  into 
existence.  Both  Luke  and  John  Mark  were  men 
younger  than  St.  Paul  and  in  a  sense  his  subordi- 
nates. Yet  there  is  a  freshness,  an  elevation,  and  a 
wonderful  directness  in  the  sayings  attributed  to 
Jesus  as  recorded  by  these  two  men  which  do  not 
characterize  those  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 
One  of  the  mysteries  connected  with  the  produc- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  is  this  contrast  in  form 
between  the  involved  though  powerful  theologizing 
of  St.  Paul,  with  its  rabbinical  background,  and 
the  terse,  pellucid,  altogether  beautiful  style  of 
Jesus  which  laid  such  a  hold  upon  the  minds  of  His 
hearers  that,  long  as  it  was  before  His  words  were 
made  into  literature,  their  innate  power  remains. 
What  must  it  have  been  to  hear  Him! 

He  took  hold  of  the  commonest  everyday  inci- 
dents and  turned  them  into  sweet  illustrations  of 
spiritual  truth — the  shepherd  walking  along  the 
hills  in  advance  of  his  flock,  the  fisherman  casting 
his  net  into  the  sea,  the  sower  going  forth  to  sow. 
He  had  an  eye  for  natural  beauty,  which  St.  Paul 

198 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

never  had.  It  has  been  remarked  that  the  apostle 
on  his  missionary  journeys  passed  through  some  of 
the  most  glorious  scenery  in  the  world  and  never 
gives  a  hint  of  it  in  his  discourses.  How  different 
with  Jesus!  The  birds  of  the  air,  the  lilies  of  the 
field,  the  splendor  of  sunset  and  sunrise  are  all  pres- 
ent to  His  observation  and  interest.  He  has  time 
to  think  of  the  sparrow  falling  to  the  ground,  of 
the  ravens  that  God  feeds,  and  of  the  ox  or  sheep 
that  falls  into  a  pit  and  needs  to  be  helped  out  on 
the  Sabbath  day  as  on  any  other  day.  No  wonder 
the  common  people  heard  Him  gladly.  Not  that 
they  always  understood  what  He  said.  He  did  His 
best  to  teach  them  by  parable,  but  sometimes  the 
parable  itself  needed  fuller  explanation  to  the  few 
whom  He  was  endeavoring  to  train  for  the  work  of 
witnessing  Him  in  the  world  later  on.  We  need 
not  be  afraid  of  admitting  that  some  of  the  para- 
bles are  susceptible  of  more  than  one  interpreta- 
tion, a  tribute  to  their  spiritual  depth  and  range. 
No  doubt  it  was  the  intention  of  their  author  that 
meaning  should  be  discovered  within  meaning  as 
souls  progressed  in  the  spiritual  life.  This  is  spe- 
cially the  case  with  those  in  St.  John's  gospel, 
where,  indeed,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  all 
the  miracles  are  used  as  parables.  There  is  scarcely 
a  sentence  in  the  whole  book  that  is  not  capable  of 
being  construed  on  different  levels ;  there  is  always 
an  inner  and  an  outer,  a  lower  and  a  higher  sig- 
nificance to  be  attached  thereto. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  teaching  is  something 
wholly  new.    The  spirit  of  Jesus  moves  easily  and 

199 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

naturallj^  in  the  transcendental  throughout,  yet 
without  once  losing  touch  with  the  workaday  world ; 
He  speaks  familiarly  and  with  first-hand  knowl- 
edge of  the  things  of  God,  yet  without  withdrawing 
for  an  instant  His  sympathy  from  the  needs  and 
sorrows  of  poor  humanity.  He  made  heaven  and 
the  life  eternal  seem  real  to  those  He  addressed  as 
no  one  else  has  ever  done,  and  yet  there  was  no 
ascetic  other-worldism  either  in  His  discourses  or 
His  mode  of  life.  Such  lightness  of  touch,  united 
to  such  richness  of  spiritual  content,  has  never  been 
seen  in  any  religious  utterances  as  in  these.  If  His 
object  in  part  were  to  provoke  people  to  think, 
pray,  and  inquire  into  the  great  mysteries  of  our 
life  and  death.  He  certainly  succeeded  by  the  very 
method  He  employed  as  well  as  by  His  skill  in  em- 
ploying it.  In  one  saying  He  is  represented  as  de- 
claring that  He  adopted  the  parabolic  form  in 
teaching  so  that  people  should  not  understand  what 
He  meant."^  Needless  to  say,  that  was  not  literally 
so,  but  it  was  undoubtedly  true  that  only  those  who 
were  spiritually  ready  to  grasp  the  full  implications 
of  His  word  would  get  out  of  the  parables  all  that 
was  in  them.  To  the  rest  they  would  be  more  or 
less  obscure.  But  everybody  would  get  something. 
It  is  so  to-day. 

It  is  sometimes  remarked  that  if  the  precepts  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  could  be  carried  out  in 
their  entirety  human  society  would  dissolve,  and 
that  may  be  true.^^    If  what  has  already  been  said 

28  Mark  iv.  11,  12 ;  Luke  viii.  10.     Cf.  Matt.  xiii.  10  ff  and  John 
xii.  40. 

29  Gore :  Sermon  on  the  MoutU,  p.  110. 

800 


JESUS'  PUBLIC  LIFE 

concerning  this  so-called  sermon  be  correct — that 
is,  that  it  consists  of  brief  notes  of  a  considerable 
body  of  teaching  delivered  to  avowed  disciples  and 
spread  over  a  somewhat  lengthy  period — it  is  clear 
that  it  was  not  meant  for  immediate  and  universal 
adoption;  it  is  a  statement  of  the  ideal  of  conduct 
which  would  be  followed  in  a  Christian  community ; 
it  is  the  law  of  the  Church  as  it  proceeded  from  the 
lips  of  its  founder.^"  There  are  large  gaps  in  it,  of 
necessity  so.  It  does  not  legislate  for  modern  eco- 
nomic problems  or  for  any  of  the  complexities  aris- 
ing out  of  the  relations  of  the  modern  State. 

_  30  Seeley's  chapter  in  Ecce  Homo  on  the  "Nature  of  Christ's  So- 
ciety" is  still  a  fresh  and  penetrating  analysis  of  the  factors  that  led 
to  the  expression  of  the  mind  of  Jesus  through  an  organized  fellow- 
ship :  the  two  cannot  be  considered  apart. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE    EARLY    MINISTRY 

The  Sequence  of  Events 

Following  St.  Mark's  order,  which  is  at  once 
the  simplest  and  most  primitive,  and  upon  which 
with  modifications  the  first  and  third  gospels  de- 
pend, we  can  obtain  something  like  a  coherent  story 
of  this  period  of  our  Lord's  public  activity.  It  is 
far  from  being  a  complete  story  or  one  wholly  free 
from  difficulties,  but  these  are  not  so  numerous  as 
in  the  later  period.  Provided  we  do  not  adhere  too 
strictly  to  any  one  theory  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  ministry  developed  or  of  the  scenes  in  which  it 
was  exercised,  a  fairly  distinct  thread  of  connection 
is  observable  throughout.  If  the  view  taken  above 
be  accepted,  that  the  writer  of  the  fourth  gospel 
did  not  conceive  himself  to  be  correcting  the  infor- 
mation given  by  the  others  but  only  to  be  supple- 
menting it  from  the  special  Johannine  traditions; 
and  if,  as  is  now  generally  admitted,  the  authors 
of  the  first  and  third  gospels,  writing  independently 
of  each  other,  both  made  use  of  Mark  in  giving  their 
outline  of  the  doings  of  Jesus  while  drawing  upon 

203 


THE   EARLY   MINISTRY 

another  source  for  the  teaching,  we  can  at  least 
make  a  reasonable  attempt  at  an  understanding  of 
the  Master's  procedure  and  how  it  was  gradually 
affected  by  influences  from  without.  That  a  par- 
ticular saying  should  appear  more  than  once  or  in 
different  connections  in  one  gospel  as  compared 
with  another  is  surely  a  matter  of  indifference. 
There  is  every  likelihood  that  Jesus  repeated  por- 
tions of  His  teaching  from  time  to  time,  and  some 
of  the  most  striking  and  original  of  His  aphorisms 
may  have  been  associated,  now  with  this  episode, 
and  now  with  that. 

These  are  comparatively  unimportant  questions; 
what  matters  much  more  is  to  determine,  if  we 
can,  the  general  bearing  of  words  and  works  and 
their  true  significance.  It  should  be  noted  that 
most  which  we  possess  of  the  former  belongs  to  the 
out-of-doors  ministry.  What  Jesus  may  have  said 
in  the  synagogues  we  are  not  told,  with  the  one 
exception  of  the  scene  in  the  synagogue  at  Naza- 
reth; nearty  all  the  sayings  preserved  in  the  gos- 
pels were  spoken  to  promiscuous  assemblies.  It  is 
otherwise  with  the  miracles;  some  of  the  most 
notable  of  these  are  said  to  have  been  wrought  in 
the  synagogues,  and  that  it  was  partly  in  conse- 
quence of  this  that  the  synagogue  ministry  had  to 
give  way  to  the  larger  one  towards  which  the  Phari- 
sees and  scribes  took  up  an  attitude  of  increasing 
hostility.  But  this  was  not  for  some  time,  for  the 
statement  is  definitely  made  that  He  first  preached 
in  the  synagogues  throughout  all  Galilee  and  cast 
out  devils.     There  is  no  evidence  that  the  syna- 

203 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

gogues  were  wholly  closed  to  Him  at  any  time 
certainly  not  before  the  antagonism  between  Him- 
self and  the  Pharisees  became  acute.  It  is  much 
more  probable  that  the  synagogues  soon  became 
too  small  to  accommodate  the  crowds  which  flocked 
to  hear  Him.  In  the  closing  verse  of  St.  Mark's 
opening  chapter,  for  example,  it  is  stated  that  in 
spite  of  our  Lord's  charge  to  the  first  leper  whom 
He  cleansed,  not  to  make  the  miracle  known,  the 
man  blazed  the  matter  abroad  to  such  an  extent  that 
for  a  time  Jesus  could  no  more  enter  into  the  city 
(Capernaum),  but  had  to  remain  without  in  desert 
places,  and  that  people  came  to  Him  there  from 
every  quarter.  This  alone  would  be  sufficient  to 
account  for  His  speedy  substitution  of  a  wider  min- 
istry for  that  of  the  synagogues,  not  to  mention  His 
desire  to  come  into  contact  with  the  non-synagogue- 
going  classes.  Both  types  of  ministry  may  have 
run  concurrently  for  a  certain  period.  When  He 
went  to  a  new  locality  He  would  begin  by  speaking 
in  the  synagogue  and  afterwards  betake  Himself 
to  the  open  air.  In  the  end  His  discourses  were 
delivered  in  the  open  air  alone,  though  there  is  an 
occasional  suggestion  of  His  speaking  in  private 
houses,  or,  more  probably,  in  the  courtyards  attach- 
ing thereto. 

Additional  Wonder- Working 

Besides  the  miracles  already  mentioned  as  be- 
longing to  this  first  period  of  our  Lord's  public 
ministry,  we  have  to  note  the  curious  episode  of  the 

204 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

Gadarene  swine  (which  may  more  fitly  be  con- 
sidered later),  the  cure  of  the  paralytic  whose 
sins  He  also  forgave,  the  raising  of  the  ruler's 
daughter,  the  healing  of  the  woman  with  an  issue 
of  blood,  the  opening  of  the  eyes  of  two  blind  men, 
the  deliverance  of  a  dumb  man  possessed  with  a 
devil,  the  healing  of  the  man  with  the  withered 
hand.  This  last  is  stated  to  have  been  the  overt 
cause  of  the  enmity  of  the  Pharisees  towards  Jesus 
thenceforth.  Mark  says  that  unclean  spirits  sa- 
luted Him  as  Son  of  God,  but  that  He  forbade 
them  to  make  Him  known.  To  this  period  also 
we  may  refer  the  stilling  of  the  tempest  on  the  lake 
of  Galilee.  The  significant  statement  appears  in 
Luke  that  Pharisees  and  doctors  of  the  Law  were 
sitting  by  on  a  certain  day,  which  were  come  out 
of  every  town  of  Galilee,  and  Judea,  and  Jerusa- 
lem.^ Apparently  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  Jesus 
healed  the  paralytic  on  the  Sabbath  day.  That 
Pharisees  and  doctors  of  the  Law  should  have  come 
down  from  the  capital  to  watch  His  movements  is 
evidence,  not  only  of  the  general  interest  that  had 
been  aroused  thereby  throughout  Judea  as  well  as 
Galilee,  but  also  perhaps  of  the  fact  that  His  earlier 
appearance  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  had  not 
been  forgotten  nor  the  questioning  it  occasioned 
been  allowed  to  subside.  It  would  seem  also  that 
the  Master  must  have  visited  Jerusalem  once  more 
during  this  period,  judging  from  what  is  recorded 
in  St.  John  v.  The  events  described  in  this  chap- 
ter follow  immediately  upon  the  healing  of  the 

1  Luke  V.  17. 

205 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

nobleman's  son  at  Capernaum,  but  there  is  room 
in  between  for  all  alluded  to  above  to  have  taken 
place.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  assign  them  to  a 
later  period,  for  the  sixth  chapter  of  St.  John  opens 
with  a  further  reference  to  Galilee  and  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand,  which,  in 
the  synoptical  account,  follows  more  obviously  upon 
the  above  series  of  events.  John  says  that  Jesus 
went  up  to  Jerusalem  on  this  occasion  to  be  present 
at  a  feast  of  the  Jews,  but  does  not  tell  us  what  the 
feast  was.  It  was  not  a  Passover,  but  in  the  ab- 
sence of  express  information  it  is  of  little  use  at- 
tempting to  say  which  out  of  the  number  of  lesser 
feasts  was  the  one  here  indicated.  Its  mention  in 
this  connection  is  noteworthy  because  of  the  heal- 
ing of  the  impotent  man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  to 
which  we  must  refer  again  later. 

In  St.  Mark's  vivid  way — a  characteristic  diffi- 
cult to  reproduce  in  English — and  which  the  other 
evangelists  do  not  possess  in  like  degree,  he  tells 
us  of  the  intense  impression  produced  by  these 
wonder-workings.  "All  the  city  was  gathered  to- 
gether at  the  door,"  "  he  says — that  is,  the  whole 
population  was  assembled  at  the  city  gate  excitedly 
discussing  what  had  come  to  pass  in  their  midst. 
The  city  gate  was  the  usual  place  of  meeting  for 
ordinary  purposes.  The  evangelist  tells  us  some- 
thing of  wliat  was  said.  "What  is  this?"  they  ques- 
tioned of  one  another.  "A  new  teaching?  With 
authority  he  commands  even  the  unclean  spirits, 
and  they  obey  him."  ^    It  is  Mark  again  who  makes 

2  Mark  1.  33.  » Ibid.  37. 

806 


THE   EARLY   MINISTRY 

us  aware  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  news 
traveled  far  and  near,  and  not  only  within  the  prov- 
ince wherein  the  works  were  wrought.  "And  im- 
mediately His  fame  spread  abroad  through  all  the 
region  round  about  Galilee."  * 

On  Jesus'  return  to  Capernaum  after  the  short 
retirement  which  had  been  forced  upon  Him  as  in- 
dicated above,  His  advent  was  signalized  by  an 
instant  rush  of  clamorous  crowds  to  see  and  hear 
Him.  Mark,  as  usual,  is  the  most  dramatic  in  his 
description  of  the  scene  and  what  followed.  He 
says  it  was  noised  that  He  was  at  home,  and  that 
"straightway  many  were  gathered  together,  inso- 
much that  there  was  no  room  to  receive  them,  no, 
not  so  much  as  about  the  door:  and  he  preached 
the  word  unto  them."  ^  We  need  not  assume  that 
the  excitement  thus  causecj  was  more  than  paro- 
chial, so  to  speak,  or  that  the  throngs  would  be  very 
great  as  compared  with  the  vast  popular  demon- 
strations to  which  we  are  accustomed  in  European 
or  American  cities  in  our  own  day.  Presumably 
this  was  our  Lord's  own  house  which  was  thus  be- 
sieged, or  the  house  belonging  to  one  of  the  dis- 
ciples in  which  He  had  taken  up  His  abode  some 
time  before.  It  would  not  be  very  large  and  could 
not  accommodate  an  audience  of  more  than  a  score 
or  two  at  most ;  and  the  crowd  outside  to  which  the 
Master  went  forth  as  suggested  in  the  narrative 
might  consist  of  a  few  hundred  people. 

We  here  encounter  our  first  great  difficulty  in 
attempting  to  reconcile  with  each  other  the  various 

*  Ibid.  28.  ^Ibid.  ii.  2. 

207 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

evangelical  records  of  this  portion  of  the  ministry. 
Mark,  with  considerable  verisimilitude,  says  that  it 
was  on  this  occasion  that  the  healing  of  the  para- 
lytic took  place  which  provoked  the  first  expression 
of  hostility  from  the  scribes,  because  Jesus  added 
to  it  the  forgiveness  of  the  sufferer's  sins.  Mat- 
thew and  Luke  place  it  in  an  entirely  different  con- 
nection. To  harmonize  them  is  impossible,  and  we 
can  say  no  more  than  has  already  been  said  on  the 
subject,  namely,  that  the  evangelists  themselves 
have  only  a  secondary  interest  in  questions  of 
chronological  order.  We  can  but  adhere  to  Mark's 
version  on  the  whole  as  the  best  as  well  as  the 
earliest. 

According  to  the  picturesque  description  of  the 
incident  given,  by  the  second  evangelist,  in  which 
we  may  detect  Peter's  vivid  way  of  recollecting 
what  took  place,  Jesus  must  have  been  addressing 
the  assemblage  from  some  elevated  spot  overlooking 
the  courtvard  of  the  house  in  which  He  was  domi- 
ciled,  the  people  filling  the  courtyard  in  every  part 
and  overflowing  through  the  gateway  into  the 
street.  Luke's  observation  relating  ostensibly  to 
what  followed,  that  doctors  of  the  Law  from  Jeru- 
salem were  present,  would  be  more  relevant  to  other 
occasions ;  on  this  particular  one,  few,  if  any,  could 
have  known  where  to  find  the  Master  till,  as  Mark 
indicates,  the  news  spread  like  wildfire  through  the 
little  city  that  He  had  returned  and  was  in  the  house. 
On  the  other  hand  it  is  possible  that  these  important 
visitors  from  the  south  had  been  waiting  in  Caper- 
naum for  some  time  in  the  hope  of  being  present  at 

208 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY, 

His  next  public  appearance.  While  the  gathering 
was  in  progress,  and  Jesus  in  the  act  of  speaking, 
four  men  came  up  bearing  on  a  light  pallet  a  fifth 
who  was  paralyzed  and  unable  to  move  of  himself. 
Finding  direct  access  to  the  INIaster  impossible  be- 
cause of  the  density  of  the  crowd  that  blocked  the 
gate,  they  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  They  as- 
cended to  the  roof,  and  either  untiled  a  portion  of 
it,  or,  what  is  more  likely,  rolled  back  a  corner  of 
the  veil  that  shielded  the  courtyard  from  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun,  and  then  attaching  cords  to  the  bed 
lowered  it  with  its  occupant  right  down  into  the 
immediate  presence  of  Jesus.  All  three  of  the 
synoptics  affirm  that  Jesus  was  touched  by  the  faith 
thus  betokened  on  the  part  of  the  bearers,  and,  we 
may  assume,  by  their  loyal  devotion  to  their  af- 
flicted  friend  also.  But  His  first  word  in  reference 
thereto  was  not  what  any  one  expected.  "Son" — 
or,  rather,  "child" — He  said,  "be  of  good  cheer; 
thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  ^ 

Doubtless  there  was  more  in  this  utterance  than 
fell  on  the  ear.  This  man's  sickness,  like  much  simi- 
lar suffering  at  the  present  day,  may  have  been, 
probably  was,  his  own  fault.  He  had  sown  to  the 
flesh  and  of  the  flesh  reaped  corruption.  No  one 
else  in  the  wide  world  perhaps  knew  of  the  bitter- 
ness of  his  regret  and  his  desire  for  amendment. 
His  prayer  to  God  for  forgiveness  and  restoration, 
which  like  Nathanael's  under  the  fig  tree,  he  had 
imagined  to  be  utterly  secret,  he  now  saw,  to  his 
amazement,  was  known  to  the  teacher  who  stood 

« Mark  u.  5, 

209 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

gazing  compassionately  down  upon  him.  There 
was  an  instant  flash  of  understanding  between  the 
two.  Both  knew  that  the  soul  needed  healing  as 
well  as  the  body  in  this  case  as  in  most  others,  and 
the  Master's  word  of  absolution  was  addressed 
straight  to  the  paralytic's  unspoken  thoughts  and 
was  the  one  he  most  rejoiced  to  hear,  though  never 
expecting  to  do  so.  But  it  startled  those  round 
about,  especially  the  scribes,  though  it  would  seem 
that  for  the  present  they  kept  their  objections  to 
themselves.  They  reasoned  in  their  hearts,  "Why 
doth  this  man  thus  speak  blasphemies?  Who  can 
forgive  sins  but  God  only?"  Then  came  the  second, 
surprise.  "And  straightway  Jesus,  perceiving  in 
his  spirit  that  they  so  reasoned  within  themselves" 
— or,  as  Matthew  has  it,  "knowing  their  thoughts" 
— "saith  unto  them,  Why  reason  ye  these  things  in 
your  hearts?"  And  to  show  that  the  Son  of  Man 
had  authority  on  earth  to  forgive  sins,  He  bade  the 
paralytic  arise  instantly  and  take  up  his  bed  and 
walk. 

It  can  hardly  have  been  intended  that  this  last 
statement  should  be  taken  too  literally.  As  it 
stands  it  would  suggest  that  our  Lord  healed  the 
paralytic  simply  and  solely  to  demonstrate  that  He 
Himself  had  authority  to  forgive  sins.  But  would 
He  not  have  healed  the  poor  man  of  his  infirmity  in 
any  case?  Undoubtedly;  He  only  began  with  the 
root  evil,  the  malady  of  the  soul,  and  then  com- 
pleted the  cure.  His  address  to  the  critical  on- 
lookers merely  amounted  to  saying,  Observe  what 
follows;  if  I  have  power  to  heal  the  body,  does  it 

210 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

not  argue  that  my  word  of  liberation  to  the  soul, 
previously  spoken,  was  valid  also? 

But  a  perplexing  question  thrusts  itself  upon  us 
here.  This  is  the  first  occasion  on  which  Jesus  is 
said  to  have  used  the  mysterious  self-designation. 
Son  of  Man,  which  appears,  in  all,  in  the  gospels 
no  less  than  eighty-two  times.  In  what  sense  can 
He  have  used  it?  It  could  not  have  been  Mes- 
sianic in  this  instance  at  any  rate,  nor  in  most  oth- 
ers, so  far  as  His  hearers  knew,  for,  as  we  have 
seen,  Jesus'  Messiahship  was  not  yet  explicit,  was 
not  even  suspected  bj^  the  public  He  addressed. 
On  the  other  hand  the  theory  that  the  expression 
had  an  impersonal  signification,  and  was  merely 
equivalent  to  "JMan"  renders  it  meaningless  in  such 
a  connection  as  this.  The  question  is  not  only  what 
"Jesus  Himself  meant  by  it,  but  what  those  who 
heard  Him  understood  Him  to  mean.  Schweitzer 
declares  the  problem  solved,  and  that  Jesus  spoke 
of  Himself  in  this  way  because  He  knew  Himself 
to  be  the  Son  of  JMan  who  was  later  to  be  revealed 
— that  is,  the  Son  of  Man  or  Man  from  heaven  of 
current  apocalyptic  prophecy.^  To  call  Himself 
Son  of  Man  openly  under  present  circumstances 
would  not  convey  this  fact  of  His  own  self- 
consciousness  to  His  hearers,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  would  be  consistent  with  what  they  must  after- 
wards discover  or  which  would  at  least  be  claimed 
on  His  behalf.  This  is  plausible,  perhaps  more 
than  plausible.  It  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that 
our  Lord  used  the  name  with  a  purpose  and  that 

^  Quest  of  the  Historical  Jesus,  p.  281. 

211 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

it  must  have  had  something  of  Messianic  signifi- 
cance in  it  unrecognized  bv  the  world  until  the  time 
came  for  Him  to  be  proclaimed  as  the  Messiah, 
when  it  would  be  remembered  that  He  had  thus 
described  Himself  all  along.  But  why  did  not  the 
public  associate  the  phrase  with  Messianic  'claims 
in  His  person?  It  can  only  have  been  that  they 
never  dreamed  of  the  Messianic  Son  of  Man  as 
coming  in  the  guise  of  a  Galilean  carpenter  preach- 
ing as  a  wandering  rabbi,  whereas  they  were  ac- 
quainted with  it  in  some  other  connection.  And 
what  could  that  other  connection  be  if  not  the  some- 
what vague  and  indeterminate  use  of  the  expres- 
sion illustrated  especially  in  the  case  of  the  prophet 
Ezekiel?  Ezekiel  represents  himself  as  being  thus 
addressed  from  heaven.  There  is  nothing  to  forbid 
the  supposition  that  Jesus  may  have  adopted  the 
phrase  from  this  source,  giving  it  at  the  same  time  a 
connotation  in  His  own  mind  which  He  did  not 
betray  to  others.  In  Aramaic  the  term  a  "Man"  or 
"Son  of  Man"  has  a  significance  not  dissimilar  to 
that  of  the  German  "Man"  in  the  sense  of  "One," 
the  impersonal  pronoun.  This  may  explain  why  no 
one  thought  of  it  with  surprise  when  hearing  it  from 
the  lips  of  Jesus.  Instead  of  saying  "I"  He  could 
quite  suitably  say  "One"  or  "Mj^self,"  and  "Son  of 
Man"  may  not  have  been  understood  necessarily  to 
mean  more.  It  did  mean  more  to  Himself.  Mat- 
thew adds  a  suggestive  comment :  "Wlien  the  mul- 
titudes saw  it  (the  miracle)  they  marveled,  and 
glorified  God,  which  had  given  such  power  unto 

212 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

men."  ^  Evidently  this  is  an  allusion  to  Jesus' 
statement  above  quoted,  that  the  Son  of  Man  had 
power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins  as  well  as  to  heal.  It 
must  have  been  understood  in  the  sense  that  "Man," 
at  any  rate  a  divinely  chosen  and  gifted  man,  might 
do  these  things. 

All  three  of  the  synoptics  state  that  the  call  of 
Matthew  the  publican  succeeded  almost  immedi- 
ately to  this  striking  prodigy.  Mark  says  that  after 
the  healing  Jesus  came  out  of  the  house  and  went 
down  to  the  lake  shore.  His  congregation  accom- 
panying Him,  and  that  He  taught  them  there.  The 
implication  is  that  finding  His  domestic  quarters 
too  straightened,  especially  after  what  had  just 
taken  place.  He  stepped  out  into  the  open  air,  bid- 
ding His  hearers  follow  Him,  and  that  the  same 
meeting  went  on  uninterruptedly.  Whether  it  was 
on  the  way  to  the  beach  or  on  the  way  back  from  it 
that  Jesus  spoke  to  Matthew  is  not  quite  certain^ 
but  Matthew's  own  account  of  the  incident  would 
suggest  the  former.  Matthew  was  a  taxgatherer 
under  the  Roman  authority,  and  it  was  part  of  his 
duty  to  collect  the  dues  from  the  fisher-folk  and 
others  at  stated  intervals  along  one  section  of  the 
Tiberian  coast.  He  was  sitting  in  his  stall  en- 
gaged in  this  work  when  Jesus  passed  with  all  the 
excited  company  streaming  around  Him  which  had 
just  witnessed  the  healing  of  the  paralytic.  The 
paralytic  himself  had  already  run  forth  shouting 
his  story.  Business  would  be  slack  just  then;  the 
taxgatherer  would  have  little  to  do;  everyone  had 

8  Matt.  ix.  8. 

213 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

gone  to  listen  to  the  new  prophet  and  see  what  was 
going  on.  INIatthew  sat  alone  and  waited.  Jesus 
marked  him  from  afar,  and  when  He  came  oppo- 
site the  publican's  booth  paused  just  long  enough 
to  utter  two  words,  "Follow  me."  ^  Matthew  (or 
Levi,  as  Mark  and  Luke  call  him)  rose  instantly 
and  obeyed.  He  knew  that  this  was  a  special  sum- 
mons. Hundreds  of  others  were  following  at  the 
same  moment,  but  the  call  had  not  come  to  them 
as  it  had  come  to  him.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
a  new  life  for  him,  entrance  upon  a  vocation,  the 
extent  of  which  as  yet  he  little  knew.  He  aban- 
doned everything  for  it,  just  as  the  first  compan- 
ions of  Francis  of  Assisi  did  in  similar  fashion 
nearly  thirteen  centuries  later.  Probably  at  the 
moment  he  had  not  much  to  leave ;  as  we  have  said, 
business  had  been  suspended  for  the  time  in  the 
unwonted  interest  that  had  been  aroused  by  the  re- 
turn of  the  Master  after  a  brief  absence;  but  may 
it  not  have  been  that  all  Matthew's  arrangements 
were  already  made  and  that  he  only  awaited  the 
signal,  as  Peter  and  the  sons  of  Zebedee  had  pre- 
viously done,  to  forsake  all  and  attach  himself  to 
Jesus?  Mark  says  he  was  the  son  of  Alpheus. 
This  being  so  he  had  a  brother  James  who  was  also 
included  in  the  apostolic  band,  and  there  is  every 
likelihood  that  these  men  had  had  opportunities  of 
meeting  Jesus  previously  during  His  residence  in 
Capernaum.  Like  the  first  four  apostles  they  were 
readv  to  come  with  Him  when  He  needed  them,  and 
an  understanding  may  have  existed  to  that  end. 

«/&tU  ix.  9. 

214 


THE   EARLY   MINISTRY 

Jesus  needed  Matthew  now.  He  wanted  to  reach 
all  classes ;  all  classes  wanted  to  hear  Him ;  but  not 
all  were  welcome  to  the  synagogue.  There  were 
those  without,  not  as  large  a  proportion  of  the  com- 
munity then  as  now,  but  still  considerable  in  num- 
ber, between  whom  and  the  rest  little  intercourse 
was  possible.  These  were  despised,  avoided,  socially 
outcast.  The  publicans  were  the  most  hated  among 
them,  and  with  reason;  they  farmed  the  revenues 
for  the  Roman  invader  and  thus  joined  in  the  op- 
pression of  their  own  countrjanen.  Some  of  them 
became  very  wealthy  through  this  greedy  and  un- 
patriotic practice,  but  with  the  result  that  they  were 
universally  condemned  and  held  in  dishonor;  their 
associations  were  perforce  with  those  who  were  out- 
side the  pale  of  what  was  accounted  respectable  and 
of  good  report.  It  was  a  man  of  this  order  that 
Jesus  now  approached,  and  the  inference  is  that 
one  of  His  motives  in  doing  so  was  that  He  might 
be  brought  into  more  immediate  touch  with  the 
people  who  were  never  seen  in  the  synagogues  and 
would  not  have  been  permitted  to  enter. 

That  this  was  the  Master's  object  is  shown  by 
what  is  next  recorded,  and  especially  by  Luke's  ver- 
sion of  it.  "Levi,"  says  the  third  evangelist,  "made 
him  a  great  feast  in  his  own  house:  and  there  was 
a  great  company  of  publicans  and  of  others  that  sat 
down  with  them."  ^°  It  is  not  without  significance 
that  the  word  "feast"  might  here  better  be  trans- 
lated "reception."  Levi's  occupation  had  brought 
him  wealth,  and  he  now  used  some  of  this  wealth 

10  Luke  V.  29. 

215 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

in  the  holding  of  a  reception — literally  such,  as  we 
should  understand  it  to-day — to  enable  the  poor 
and  the  socially  disreputable  to  make  nearer  ac- 
quaintance with  Jesus.  Another  fact  worth  noting 
is  that  it  is  Matthew's  own  gospel  which  refers  to 
him  by  that  name ;  did  Jesus  give  it  to  him  as  that 
by  which  he  was  to  be  known  henceforth  ?  It  means 
"given  by  God."  The  old  name  of  Levi  might  not 
be  utterly  discarded  any  more  than  "Simon"  was 
discarded  when  the  first  of  the  apostles  was  sur- 
named  by  his  Master  "Peter,"  a  rock. 

End  of  the  Distinctively  Synagogue  Ministry 

We  might  almost  say  that  from  the  call  of  Mat- 
thew dates  a  new  departure  in  the  Master's  meth- 
ods, and  it  also  marks  the  first  open  expression  of 
disapproval  on  the  part  of  the  Pharisaic  party  in 
Galilee.  It  was  to  them  a  scandal  that  He  should 
thus  mix  Himself  up  with  those  who  were  under 
the  ban  of  orthodoxy.  "How  is  it  that  He  eateth 
and  drinketh  with  publicans  and  sinners  ?"^^  they 
asked  of  His  disciples — the  first  clear  indication  we 
possess  that  He  already  had  a  recognized  follow- 
ing of  disciples.  Matthew's  report  of  Jesus'  im- 
pressive reply  is  best  and  fullest  of  the  three  and 
suggests  that  as  host  and  principal  agent  on  the 
occasion  he  had  a  keener  memory  for  what  hap- 
pened than  the  rest.  Some  of  the  disciples  must 
have  come  to  Jesus  with  the  information  of  the 
Pharisees'  protest,  and,  continues  the  narrative  in 
the  first  gospel,  "When  Jesus  heard  that  He  said 

11  Mark  ii.  16. 

216 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

unto  them,  They  that  be  whole  need  not  a  physician, 
but  they  that  are  sick.  But  go  ye  and  learn  what 
that  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice: 
for  I  am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sin- 
ners to  repentance."  ^^  There  is  nothing  provoca- 
tive in  this  beautiful  and  tender  justification;  the 
complete  break  between  Jesus  and  the  representa- 
tives of  the  established  order  had  not  yet  come 
about,  but  it  was  on  the  way.  After  this  scene  in 
JMatthew's  house  the  synagogue  ministry  could  not 
be  continued  on  quite  the  same  terms  as  before. 
The  citation  of  the  words  from  Hosea  vi.  6  was  re- 
markably applicable  to  the  situation.  There  could 
not  have  been  a  greater  contrast  than  the  idea  of 
Jesus  as  thus  evinced,  concerning  the  scope  of  the 
heavenly  Kingdom,  and  that  of  the  majority  of 
His  Jewish  contemporaries.  He  called  all  men  to 
prepare  for  the  advent  of  the  Kingdom,  and  the 
call  was  specially  directed  to  those  who  needed 
repentance.  The  word  repentance  is  not  included 
here  in  the  best  Mss.,  but  it  might  as  well  be,  for 
Jesus  and  the  Baptist  both  insisted  from  the  first 
on  the  necessity,  for  the  change  of  mind  or  heart 
denoted  repentance  as  preliminary  to  the  advent  of 
the  Kingdom,  which  both  declared  to  be  near  at 
hand.  In  the  instance  before  us  Jesus  does  not  say 
who  are  sinners  and  who  are  not;  He  but  gently 
insists  that  all  should  be  included  within  the  range 
of  God's  mercy,  and  that  His  mission  is  to  all  ac- 
cordingly. 

Whether  the  appeal  to  His  critics  made  any  im- 

12  Matt.  ix.  12,  13. 

217 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

pression  is  not  explicitly  stated.  On  the  whole  it  is 
improbable,  but  there  is  one  indication  to  the  con- 
trary which  should  not  be  passed  over  and  that  is 
supplied  by  St.  Luke.  Luke  has  a  special  source 
already  mentioned  which  does  not  follow  any 
chronological  order,  but  which  contains  a  good  deal 
of  matter  that  might  more  fitly  be  ascribed  to  the 
earlier  than  the  later  ministry.  What  this  special 
source  was  there  is  no  evidence  to  show,  but  none 
of  the  other  evangelists  has  it  and  it  is  inserted  in 
the  third  gospel  almost  en  hloc.  It  is  the  fifteenth 
chapter  which  seems  to  have  special  relevance  in 
relation  to  the  gathering  arranged  by  Matthew  and 
which  Luke  also  reports  in  his  o^vn  fifth  chapter. 
The  fifteenth  opens  with  the  words,  almost  a  repe- 
tition of  those  previously  recorded  in  connection 
with  Matthew's  feast:  "Then  drew  near  unto  Him 
all  the  publicans  and  sinners  for  to  hear  Him.  And 
the  Pharisees  and  scribes  murmured,  saying,  This 
man  receiveth  sinners,  and  eateth  with  them."  Then 
follow  the  three  parables — the  lost  sheep,  the  lost 
piece  of  silver,  and  the  prodigal  son.  There  the 
discourse  on  this  occasion  ends,  for  the  next  chap- 
ter begins  with  one  addressed  specially  to  disciples. 
Does  this  fifteenth  chapter  contain,  as  Dr.  A.  B. 
Bruce  suggests,"  the  bulk  of  the  address  which 
Jesus  delivered  to  the  strangely  heterogeneous  as- 
sembly in  Matthew's  house  at  the  memorable  feast 
which  followed  the  call  of  the  publican-apostle?  If 
so — and  the  form  of  introduction  certainly  implies 
it — we  have  here  the  nearest  approach  to  a  full 

"^^  Expositor's  Greek  Testament .  Vol.  I,  p.  577. 

218 


THE   EARLY   MINISTRY 

report  of  a  connected  discourse  of  Jesus  whicH  ex- 
ists. This  is  much  more  truly  a  sermon  in  the 
modern  sense  than  the  so-called  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  for  it  deals  with  a  single  theme,  and  de- 
velops it  with  great  beauty  and  impressiveness. 
Who  took  the  notes  from  which  it  was  reproduced? 
To  Matthew's  jottings,  as  we  have  seen,  we  are 
perhaps  indebted  for  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
and  something  more,  but  Matthew  possessed  no 
such  skill  as  this  and  no  such  mastery  of  the  Greek 
medium  as  was  necessary  for  retelling  at  length  a 
story  so  winsome  and  withal  so  searching.  Either, 
therefore,  this  chapter  represents  Luke's  own  first- 
hand report  of  the  Master's  words  on  this  great 
occasion  or  he  had  direct  access  to  some  one  of  his 
own  order  who  could  furnish  it.  Luke  was  prob- 
ably old  enough  at  this  time  to  have  been  present 
in  the  assembly  in  question  and  to  have  written  out 
an  almost  verbatim  recoixl  of  the  discourse  for  him- 
self; it  is  most  lovingly  and  tenderly  done,  and  the 
fact  that  it  appears  in  Luke's  gospel  and  Luke's 
alone  would  almost  point  to  this  explanation  of  its 
origin.  It  is  the  work  of  a  man  to  whom  writing 
came  easier  than  to  the  other  evangelists.  It  is 
told  in  detail  and  in  Luke's  characteristic  style;  it 
bears  the  marks  of  an  educated  yet  sympathetic 
mind.  Whether  St.  Luke,  who  writes  so  well  in 
the  Greek  language,  could  understand  Aramaic  is, 
of  course,  doubtful ;  there  are  no  Aramaic  terms  in 
his  gospel  as  in  Matthew  and  ]\Iark.  Neither  is  it 
anjnvhere  specifically  stated  that  he  had  ever  seen 
or  heard  Jesus. 

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But  there  is  one  point  which  strongly  suggests 
either  Luke's  own  original  report  or  that  of  an  eye- 
witness very  like  himself  in  feeling  and  outlook, 
perhaps  some  one  closely  connected.  It  is  the  refer- 
ence to  the  elder  brother  in  the  third  parable.  A 
brief  survey  of  the  whole  will  make  this  clear. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  first  two  parables  end 
with  almost  the  same  words,  namely,  that  there  is 
joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth.     Neither  the  sheep  nor  the 
piece  of  silver  repented  in  the  sense  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  ascribe  to  that  term.    Both  remained  lost, 
helpless,  passive  until  sought  for  and  recovered  by 
the  shepherd  and  the  owner  respectively.    What  can 
this  mean?     It  can  only  mean  that  in  our  Lord's 
thought  repentance  is  a  God-created  state  of  mind ; 
He  has  more  to  do  with  it  than  the  sinner ;  it  is  He, 
and  not  the  sinner,  whose  volition  produces  in  the 
heart  of  the  latter  feelings  of  contrition  and  desire 
for  amendment ;  God  seeks  man  ere  man  seeks  God 
— man  seeking  God  is  in  itself  a  sign  that  God  has 
first  been  seeking  man.     On  the  other  hand,  man 
has  a  will  as  well  as  God ;  God  does  not  treat  His 
children  as  if  they  were  only  of  the  status  of  the  lost 
sheep  and  piece  of  silver;  we  are  more  than  auto- 
mata, we  are  free,  self-determining  beings;  there 
can  be  no  real  spiritual  life  where  the  exercise  of 
the  will  is  absent.    So  Jesus  introduces  the  figure  of 
the  prodigal  to  show  that  there  is  an  important 
human  side  to  the  fact  of  repentance.     The  wan- 
derer is  made  to  say,  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 
father."    All  parables,  being  merely  illustrations, 

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THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

are  inadequate  in  some  degree  for  the  conveyance 
of  spiritual  truth.  Jesus  uses  three  here  because 
He  needed  them  all  to  teach  both  aspects  of  His 
theme.  The  first  two  without  the  third  would  pre- 
sent repentance  as  an  experience  in  which  the 
human  will  had  no  part,  but  only  the  will  of  God ; 
and  the  third  separated  from  the  other  two  shows 
the  initiative  as  coming  from  man,  not  from  God. 
The  prodigal  has  to  make  the  long  journey  home 
before  he  comes  to  his  father's  presence ;  the  father 
cannot  be  represented  as  in  the  far  country  with  his 
son,  whereas  God  is  alwavs  with  His  children  even 
at  the  darkest  and  the  worst.  But,  lest  His  hearers 
should  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  that  the  human 
part  is  the  principal  factor  in  the  total  experience, 
Jesus  uses  two  parables  to  enforce  the  truth  that 
the  divine  comes  first,  and  only  one  to  teach  that 
man  has  something  to  do  in  the  matter  also. 
The  figures  of  the  lost  sheep  and  the  lost  piece 
of  silver  illustrate  the  priority  of  the  action  of  God, 
and  that  of  the  prodigal  the  sinner's  response 
thereto. 

Whv  is  the  elder  brother  introduced  at  all?  To 
judge  from  the  conventional  way  of  treating  the 
subject,  and  from  the  fact  that  the  elder  brother 
as  represented  in  this  parable  has  become  in  Chris- 
tian usage  almost  a  synom^m  for  spiritual  pride,  one 
might  suppose  that  our  Lord's  intention  in  placing 
this  addendum  to  the  beautiful  story,  a  story  com- 
plete without  it,  was  to  make  an  attack  upon  the 
Pharisees  and  to  hold  up  their  self-righteousness 
to  reprobation.    Surely  this  is  an  entire  mistake  and 

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THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

completely  misses  the  point.  If  these  three  parables 
really  formed  the  substance  of  the  address  delivered 
in  Matthew's  house  in  the  circumstances  above 
described,  there  was  as  yet  no  open  breach  with  the 
Pharisees.  Suspicion  of  Jesus  had  begun  to  be  en- 
tertained by  them,  but  it  was  not  until  this  moment 
that  they  openly  opposed  Him.  They  could  not 
understand  why  a  reputable  teacher  should  thus 
be  seen  fraternizing  with  publicans  and  sinners, 
and  they  protested.  Jesus'  defense  when  the  dis- 
ciples told  Him  of  this  protest  while  the  meal  was 
yet  in  progress  we  have  already  noted.  Now  comes 
a  further  reply  on  His  part,  an  attempt  to  break 
down  their  prejudice  if  possible.  Wlien  He  had 
finished  His  story  of  the  prodigal,  so  compassion- 
ately applicable  to  His  auditors,  who  with  Him 
shared  Matthew's  hospitality.  He  raised  His  eyes 
towards  the  assembled  onlookers,  mostly  syna- 
gogue-goers, who,  after  the  usual  oriental  fashion, 
were  permitted  to  stand  on  the  outskirts  of  the  as- 
sembly. Their  disapproval  was  no  doubt  manifest 
in  their  demeanor.  Addressing  Himself  directly 
to  them  He  went  on  to  make,  not  a  denunciation, 
but  an  appeal.  There  is  not  a  word  in  this  part  of 
the  parable  to  suggest  that  the  elder  brother  was 
an  unworthy  person,  quite  the  contrary.  His  anger 
at  the  reception  of  the  prodigal  is  shown  to  be 
natural;  it  is  not  condemned.  The  father  is  rep- 
resented as  freely  admitting  the  elder  son's  claim 
that  he  had  never  at  any  time  transgressed  the 
father's  wishes.  Moreover,  in  making  this  admis- 
sion the  father  drops  into  a  tender  diminutive.     In- 

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THE   EARLY   MINISTRY 

stead  of  using  the  word  "son"  ( vl6q)  as  in  the  elder 
brother's  angry  outburst,  "When  this  thy  son  came'* 
that  is,  the  heir  of  thy  substance — ^he  says  "child" 
(T€)(i'o<;),  Child  of  my  heart,  he  pleads,  what  you 
say  is  true;  things  have  been  well  between  us;  we 
have  always  been  in  closest  sympathy  hitherto — 
"thou  art  ever  with  me,  and  all  that  is  mine  is  thine.'*^ 
Therefore  is  it  all  the  more  fitting  that  we  together 
should  rejoice  and  be  glad;  "for  this  thy  brother 
was  dead,  and  is  alive  again;  and  was  lost,  and  is 
found." 

Was  ever  an  appeal  to  the  best  in  human  nature 
more  gently  and  nobly  put?  There  is  not  a  harsh 
word  in  it  from  first  to  last.  We  are  told  that  when 
the  elder  son  first  heard  of  the  merrj^making  "he 
was  angry  and  would  not  go  in."  But  it  does  not 
say  so  at  the  end.  The  parable  closes  on  the  note 
just  quoted,  for  the  plain  and  good  reason  that 
it  remained  to  be  seen  whether  the  elder  brother, 
looking  on  at  Matthew's  feast,  would  respond  to 
the  appeal  it  contained  or  not.  All  the  factors  de- 
scribed in  the  parable  were  there  in  operation — the 
wanderers  from  the  far  country,  the  offer  of  God's 
mercy,  the  banquet  of  reconciliation,  the  frowning 
elders.    Would  they  understand? 

Did  one  at  least  understand  that  day?  Was  it 
St.  Luke  himself?  Is  this  the  reason  why  this  man 
of  education  and  refinement  became  a  professed 
follower  of  Jesus?  Does  it  explain  the  chief  char- 
acteristic of  his  gospel — a  characteristic  which  the 
others  do  not  share  in  equal  measure — his  sympathy 
with  the  outcast  and  the  lost,  the  downtrodden  and 

223 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

the  poor?  One  would  like  to  believe  that  an  af- 
firmative answer  could  be  given  to  these  questions, 
and  on  the  whole  it  seems  justifiable.  No  other 
explanation  agrees  so  well  with  the  facts  as  pre- 
sented in  this  winsome  gospel. 

Beginnings  of  Definite  Opposition 

Following  upon  the  Master's  answer  to  the 
Pharisees  at  the  feast  in  Matthew's  house,  Mark 
recounts  three  other  episodes  in  which  Pharisaic  ob- 
jection to  Jesus'  practice  is  shown  as  increasing. 
The  first  of  these  relates  to  fasting.  It  was  rep- 
resented that  the  disciples  of  John  and  of  the  Phari- 
sees observed  a  rule  of  fasting  at  prescribed  periods 
whereas  those  of  Jesus  did  not.  In  St.  Matthew's 
version  it  is  said  to  have  been  the  disciples  of  John 
who  came  asking  for  the  reason  of  this  difference: 
Mark  says  both.  The  point  is  not  important.  The 
Pharisees  would  be  sure  to  object  in  any  case,  but 
it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  up  to  the  present 
the  disciples  of  the  Baptist,  notwithstanding  his 
imprisonment,  keep  together  and  observe  a  definite 
rule;  they  have  not  yet  become  merged  in  the  fol- 
lowing of  Jesus.  Jesus'  reply  to  the  question  was 
the  counter  question,  "Can  the  children  of  the  bride- 
chamber  fast  while  the  bridegroom  is  with  them?" 
etc.^^  In  the  same  connection  appears  the  double 
metaphor,  "No  man  also  seweth  a  piece  of  new 
cloth  on  an  old  garment,"  and  "putteth  new  wine 
into  old  bottles" — that  is,  "wine  skins."    The  sug- 

"Mark  ii.  19. 

224 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

gestion  in  all  these  is  that  there  was  no  particular 
occasion  for  the  self-discipline  indicated  or  for  com- 
plying with  the  established  usage  in  regard  thereto. 
Jesus  had  come  to  bring  good  news.  The  relation 
of  His  adlierents  to  Himself  was  one  of  new  begin- 
nings, of  preparation  and  instruction  for  greater 
experiences  to  follow.  They  understood  but  little 
yet,  nor  indeed  did  any  one  but  the  Master  under- 
stand the  greatness  of  what  was  in  store.  It  would 
be  foolish  to  anticipate  and  futile  to  imitate.  The 
mould  of  the  Jewish  religious  system  was  not  ade- 
quate to  the  new  and  mighty  spiritual  force  which 
had  come  into  the  world. 

These  sayings  are  full  of  significance.  They  con- 
tain the  first  recorded  hint  that  our  Lord  already 
knew  of  His  coming  passion:  what  else  could  He 
mean  by  His  reference  to  the  fasting  to  which  the 
disciples  would  submit  when  He  was  taken  from 
them?  There  is  a  suggestion  of  mourning  in  the 
thought,  but  it  is  no  more  than  a  hint.  He  emphati- 
cally affirms  that  their  proper  demeanor  now  is  one 
of  rejoicing,  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  sorrowful 
about,  but  that  one  day  it  will  be  different  because 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  they  will  be  de- 
prived of  His  presence.  That  He  was  fully  con- 
scious also  of  the  break  with  the  past  involved  in 
His  advent  is  clear  enough  from  His  use  of  the 
figures  of  the  new  cloth  and  the  new  wine  skins. 
The  Gospel  associated  with  His  person  cannot  be 
regulated  by  the  old  forms  of  ritual  and  worship: 
it  is  too  radical  a  departure  for  that  to  be  possible. 
It  will  create  its  own  system,  require  new  modes  of 

225 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

expression,  rise  higher  and  strike  deeper  than  any 
one  then  suspected.  A  more  accurate  forecast 
could  not  have  been  made,  though  in  the  nature  of 
things  neither  the  followers  of  the  Baptist  nor  the 
Pharisees  themselves  could  be  expected  to  grasp  its 
implications.  It  is  an  interesting  sidelight  on  the 
question  of  the  Master's  own  consciousness  of  His 
mission  and  His  purpose  in  carrying  it  out.  St. 
Luke's  version  of  the  incident  adds  the  sentence, 
"No  man  also  having  drunk  old  wine  straightway 
desireth  new,  for  he  saith,  The  old  is  better" — or, 
"The  old  is  good  (enough)."  ^^  This  was  literally 
true  of  the  situation  at  the  moment  as  of  religious 
conservation  in  any  age.  None  of  these  critics  of 
the  Master  really  wanted  anything  new  in  belief 
or  practice;  nor  did  they  realize  that  His  message 
had  any  deeper  significance  than  that  to  which  they 
were  accustomed.  Hence  the  pettifogging  quality 
of  the  issues  raised  by  them.  Fasting  was  a  small 
matter  compared  with  the  greatness  of  the  spiritual 
boon  that  had  come  in  Jesus,  not  only  to  Israel,  but 
to  the  whole  world,  little  though  they  knew  it. 
They  were  treating  it  as  a  new  phase  of  an  ancient 
and  sharply  limited  order  of  things,  assuming  that 
it  was  but  a  fresh  local  development  within  the 
old  Judaistic  system,  as  that  of  the  Baptist  was 
supposed  to  be;  and  they  were  entirely  wrong. 
They  did  not  want  this  new  thing,  did  not  realize 
its  wondrous  divine  quality.  How  like  human  na- 
ture the  world  over!  There  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  John's  disciples  expressed  their  perplex- 
es Luke  V.  39. 

226 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

ity  in  other  than  a  friendly  spirit,  whatever  may 
have  been  true  of  the  Pharisees.  It  was  only  that 
their  outlook  was  circumscribed  by  their  prepos- 
sessions. 

The  next  episode,  recorded  in  the  same  connec- 
tion, is  that  of  the  Pharisees'  protest  against  the 
behavior  of  some  of  Jesus'  disciples  in  plucking  and 
eating  ears  of  corn  on  the  Sabbath  day  as  He  and 
they  were  walking  together  through  the  fields. 
Luke,  with  his  usual  precision,  makes  an  attempt 
to  indicate  for  us  the  season  of  the  year  when  the 
event  took  place,  though  it  is  doubtful  whether  we 
understand  him  rightly.  He  says  it  was  on  the 
second  Sabbath  after  the  first,  which  mav  mean  the 
second  Sabbath  after  the  first  month — that  is,  of 
the  month  in  which  the  Passover  occurred.  But 
apparently  it  was  before  the  Passover,  if  it  preceded 
the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  as  recorded,  not 
only  in  the  synoptical  gospels,  but  in  John  vi.  To 
harmonize  the  several  accounts  chronologically  is 
out  of  the  question.  In  Mark  and  Luke  it  appears 
directly  after  the  feast  in  Matthew's  house,  but  in 
Matthew's  own  gospel  that  is  not  so;  there  is  a  con- 
siderable interval  suggested  between  the  two  events, 
including  the  call  and  ordination  of  the  twelve 
apostles  and  a  whole  series  of  discourses.  All  we 
can  be  sure  about  as  regards  time  is  that  the  act  com- 
plained of  must  have  taken  place  somewhere  be- 
tween the  ripening  of  the  barley  harvest  and  that  of 
the  wheat  some  weeks  later.  There  is,  of  course,  the 
explanation  that  the  second  Sabbath  thus  alluded  to 
was  a  forgotten  technical  term  of  synagogue  ritual 

227 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

observance.    But  it  is  unsafe  to  build  any  theory  of 
dates  upon  a  single  obscure  phrase  such  as  this. 

This  is  the  first  instance  in  which,  according  to 
Mark,  the  Pharisees  raise  the  question  of  Sabbath 
observance  in  relation  to  Jesus.  They  complain 
that  the  behavior  of  the  disciples  is  a  breach  of  the 
sabbatic  law.  In  this  case  it  is  the  disciples  who 
are  the  offenders ;  in  the  next  it  is  our  Lord  Him- 
self. Perhaps  Jesus  had  already  offended  in  Jeru- 
salem by  healing  the  impotent  man  at  the  pool  of 
Bethesda  on  the  Sabbath;  if  He  had  not  already 
done  so  it  must  have  been  soon  afterwards.  As  we 
have  seen,  emissaries  from  Jerusalem  were  now 
keeping  watch  on  His  doings  in  Galilee.  The  Mas- 
ter's defence  of  His  followers  is  to  turn  the  Phari- 
sees' own  argument  against  themselves.  If  they 
appeal  to  the  Scriptures,  there  is  the  example  of 
David  and  the  high  priest  in  an  emergency ;  and  in 
the  Law  itself  there  is  the  prescription  relating  to 
the  priests  when  certain  manual  work  has  to  be 
done  in  the  service  of  the  Temple  on  the  Sabbath. 
Again  we  notice  a  pregnant  comment:  "In  this 
place  is  one  greater  than  the  Temple"  ^^ — or,  per- 
haps better,  "a  greater  thing  than  the  Temple" — a 
further  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  Gospel  He 
had  come  to  proclaim  was  of  vaster  import  than  the 
system  centering  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  "The 
Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath,"  He  added 
— a  saying  preceded  in  Mark's  version  by  the  still 
more  striking  expression,  "The  Sabbath  was  made 
for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath."  " 

^«  Matt.  xii.  6.  17  Mark  ii.  27. 

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THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

The  issue  was  accentuated  qulcklj^  afterwards. 
Matthew  says  that  He  went  into  their  synagogue, 
presumably  the  synagogue  of  the  Pharisees  who 
had  made  the  complaint — perhaps  Capernaum,  for 
Mark  says,  "He  entered  again  into  the  synagogue," 
as  if  it  were  the  one  in  which  He  was  accustomed  to 
teach — and  saw  a  man  there  with  a  withered  hand. 
Evidently  they  were  waiting  to  see  what  He  would 
do  in  regard  to  this.  From  what  had  already  taken 
place  He  must  have  known  that  this  would  be  so 
even  without  the  exercise  of  any  supernormal  fac- 
ulty. Mark  tells  the  story  best.  Jesus  first  bade 
the  afflicted  man  come  out  into  the  middle  of  the 
assembly,  and  after  the  command  had  been  obeyed. 
He  put  the  direct  question  to  the  Pharisees  present : 
"Is  it  lawful  to  do  good  on  the  Sabbath  days,  or 
to  do  evil?  to  save  life,  or  to  kill?"  ^^  As  they  were 
only  on  the  watch  to  find  something  wherewith  to 
bring  an  accusation  against  Him  they  made  no  an- 
swer. The  pathetic  sight  of  the  man's  infirmity  did 
not  move  them  to  any  compassion.  Jesus'  action  in 
directing  the  sufferer  to  stand  up  before  them  was 
doubtless  designed  to  appeal  to  their  feelings  of 
humanity  in  this  respect,  but  it  failed.  Matthew 
includes  in  his  description  a  further  question: 
"What  man  shall  there  be  among  you,  that  shall 
have  one  sheep,  and  if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sab- 
bath day  will  he  not  lav  hold  on  it  and  lift  it  out? 
How  much  then  is  a  man  better  than  a  sheep  ?"  ^^ 
Luke  records  this  question  as  having  been  put  on 
a  different  occasion,  namely,  in  the  house  of  one  of 

18  Ihid.  ill.  4.  10  Matt.  xii.  11,  13. 

229 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

the  chief  Pharisees  and  in  the  act  of  heahng  a;  man 
with  the  dropsy.'"  It  is  a  kind  of  question  which 
could  be  put  repeatedly  without  losing  force.  It 
elicited  no  response,  for  the  bigoted  onlookers  were 
there,  not  to  pity,  but  to  find  an  excuse  to  condemn. 
Mark  adds  the  dramatic  touch,  "And  when  He  had 
looked  round  about  on  them  with  anger,  being 
grieved  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts.  He  saith 
unto  the  man.  Stretch  forth  thy  hand.  And  he 
stretched  it  out:  and  his  hand  was  restored  whole 
as  the  other.  And  the  Pharisees  went  forth,  and 
straightway  took  council  with  the  Herodians 
against  him,  how  they  might  destroj^  him."  ^^ 

We  have  already  seen  that  somewhere  about  this 
same  period,  either  before  or  after,  some  of  the 
fanatical  spirits  in  Jerusalem  had  begun  to  think 
of  making  an  end  of  Jesus  on  a  similar  ground. 
St.  John's  report  of  the  matter  is  that  the  healing 
at  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  being  performed  on  the 
Sabbath,  alone  sufficed  to  stir  up  the  fanatical  rage 
of  these  people  and  make  them  ready  to  kill  the 
Master;  but  that  His  words  in  relation  thereto, 
"My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work"  inten- 
sified their  determination.  "Wherefore  the  Jews 
sought  the  more  to  kill  Him,  because  He  not  only 
had  broken  the  Sabbath,  but  said  also  that  God 
was  His  Father,  making  Himself  equal  with 
God."  "  There  may  have  been  no  connection  be- 
tween the  Galilean  and  Judean  developments  in 
the  case,  but  it  is  more  than  probable  that  there 
was,  the  danger  in  the  south  being  greater;  in  fact 

20  Luke  xiv.  5.  21  Mark  iii.  5,  6.  22  John  v.  18 

230 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

it  was  not  long  before  Jesus  found  it  expedient  to 
keep  away  from  Judea  for  a  time  and  confine  His 
operations  to  the  north. 

In  Mark's  narrative  we  have  here  the  first  ref- 
erence to  the  Herodians  as  a  party  uniting  with  the 
Pharisees  with  the  object  of  putting  Jesus  to  death. 
Who  the  Herodians  were  is  not  historically  beyond 
question,  but  that  they  were  a  distinct  political 
party,  probably  of  mixed  descent,  and  pledged  for 
interested  reasons  to  the  support  of  the  Edomite 
dynasty  is  a  reasonable  inference.  Why  they  were 
thus  thrown  into  antagonism  to  Jesus  is  not  so  evi- 
dent. It  could  not  have  been  from  the  same  mo- 
tives as  the  Pharisees  who  hated  the  foreigner  and 
certainly  owed  no  loyalty  to  Herod.  Possibly  the 
Herodians  saw  in  the  growth  of  a  popular  religious 
cult  an  ultimate  threat  to  their  own  safety;  on  the 
other  hand,  the  way  Mark's  statement  is  made 
points  rather  to  a  deliberate  plot  on  the  part  of 
the  Pharisees  to  get  the  Herodians  to  put  force  in 
motion  to  get  rid  of  Jesus.  By  bribery  or  other- 
wise they  might  induce  members  of  the  court  party 
to  do  what  they  themselves  could  not,  secure 
Herod's  warrant  for  having  Jesus  arrested  and 
treated  as  John  the  Baptist  had  been  by  the  same 
tyrant,  Antipas.  Jesus  seems  to  have  regarded  the 
danger  as  of  sufficient  importance  to  require  care 
on  His  part  if  He  were  to  be  permitted  to  work  for 
any  length  of  time.  Matthew  says  that  He  with- 
drew from  thence  because  He  knew  what  was  being 
plotted;  Mark  says  He  took  His  disciples  with 
Him  and  went  to  the  sea.     Where  was  this?     It 

231 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

could  only  have  been  that  part  of  the  coast  of  Syria 
to  the  northwest,  which  was  outside  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Galilean  province  and  indeed  outside  Israel- 
itish  territorj^  itself.  The  Master  is  now  brought 
into  contact  with  a  community  not  of  Jewish  race, 
though  whether  He  had  any  previous  acquaintance 
therewith  cannot  be  ascertained.  It  would  not  be 
unlikely.  This  northwestern  shore  was  easily  ac- 
cessible from  the  region  round  about  Nazareth,  and 
even  more  so  from  Capernaum. 

But  here  also  the  work  went  on.  Great  multi- 
tudes flocked  to  Him  from  every  part  of  Palestine 
and  beyond  as  well  as  from  the  district  He  had  en- 
tered itself."^  The  same  scenes  were- enacted  as  had 
characterized  the  ministry  elsewhere.  The  desig- 
nation Son  of  God  as  applied  to  Jesus  now  appears 
in  Mark  for  tlie  first  time.  It  is  said  that  the  de- 
moniacs hailed  Him  thus,  as  on  previous  occasions 
they  had  saluted  Him  as  the  Holy  One  of  God. 
The  evangelist  adds,  "And  He  straitly  charged 
them  that  they  should  not  make  Him  known."  ^* 
The  inference  is  that  the  evil  spirits  He  was  thus 
expelling  from  afflicted  persons  whom  they  had  pos- 
sessed knew  more  about  Him  than  did  human  be- 
ings. 

The  Commission  to  the  Apostles 

An  impressive  intimation  is  given  by  St.  Luke 
alone    concerning   the    important    new    departure 

23  Mark  ill.  8  includes  Tyre  and  Sidon  among  the  places  whence 
many  hearers  came. 
2*  Mark  iii.  13. 

232 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

which  Jesus  had  now  in  view.  The  third  evangelist 
says  nothing  about  this  retreat  beyond  the  borders 
of  Israel,  but  in  the  same  connection  as  the  others, 
observes:  "And  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  that 
he  went  out  into  a  mountain  to  pray,  and  contin- 
ued all  night  in  prayer  to  God.  And  when  it  was 
day,  he  called  unto  him  his  disciples:  and  of 
them  he  chose  twelve,  whom  he  also  named  apos- 
tles." ^^  Matthew  has  a  perplexing  variant  of  the 
event.  Without  assigning  it  to  any  specific  time 
or  place,  he  inserts  it  in  his  gospel  before  the  epi- 
sodes above  described.  This  is  rather  confusing  if 
we  look  to  Matthew  rather  than  Mark  for  the  his- 
tory of  our  Lord's  doings,  which  as  we  have  seen 
can  hardly  be  done.  Mark,  in  less  detail  than  Luke . 
mentions  this  ordination  of  the  twelve  as  taking 
place  at  a  special  session  in  the  hill  country.  "And 
he  goeth  up  into  a  mountain,  and  calleth  unto  him 
whom  he  would:  and  they  came  unto  him.  And 
he  ordained  twelve,  that  they  should  be  with  him, 
and  that  he  might  send  them  forth  to  preach,  and 
to  have  power  to  heal  sicknesses  and  to  cast  out 
devils." '' 

The  suggestion  here  of  a  somewhat  protracted 
stay  in  a  mountain  region  corresponds  to  the  state- 
ment in  Matthew  v.  1,  introducing  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  It  would  seem  to  have  been  on  this 
special  occasion — from  all  indications  a  memorable 
one,  extending  perhaps  over  several  weeks — that 
Jesus  made  the  first  approach  to  anything  like  an 
organization  of  His  followers.    The  mission  of  the 

25  Luke  vi.  12,  13.  26  Mark  iii.       -15. 

233 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

twelve  (Matthew  x.  1,  etc.)  is  plainly  a  different 
and  later  event.     It  is  curious  that  Matthew  says 
nothing    about    this    previous    ordination    of    the 
twelve,  which  finds  a  place  both  in  Mark  and  Luke. 
He  merely  begins  abruptly  with  the  observation: 
"And  when  he  had   called   unto   him   his   twelve 
disciples,"  ^^  and  then  goes  on  to  give  their  names. 
The  second  and  third  evangelists  show  us  that  this 
sending  forth  of  the  apostles  to  preach  had  been 
preceded  by  a  period  of  selection  and   training, 
whether  long  or  short  we  do  not  know.    It  is  note- 
worthy that  Luke  places  the  original  ordination  and 
his  particular  version  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
in  immediate  juxtaposition,  thereby  strengthening 
the  hypothesis  that  this  open  air  summer  school 
culminated  in  the  solemn  setting  apart  of  twelve 
men  out  of  the  whole  company  of  the  disciples  for 
a  special  work.    Mark  tells  us  definitely  what  that 
work  was,  and  the  very  word  "apostle"  implies  it. 
They  were  persons  sent  forth  with  special  authority 
from  Jesus  Himself — authority  both  to  preach  and 
heal.      Their   commission   is   set   forth   at  greater 
length  in  Mattliew  x,  though  it  is  difficult  here  to 
resist  the  conclusion  that  some  of  the  words  which 
the  first  evangelist  attributes  to  Jesus  were  spoken 
to  the  twelve  at  a  later  period.     In  this  first  itiner- 
ary they  were  to  announce  the  near  advent  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  they  were  endowed  with  something 
of  the  Master's  own  power  to  cure  sickness — Mat- 
thew also  says  to  raise  the  dead,  but  no  instance 
is  given  of  their  having  done  so. 

27  Matt.  X.  1  ff. 

234 


THE   EARLY  MINISTRY 

There  is  a  striking  similarity  between  their  bold 
neglect  of  ordinary  preparation  for  the  needs  of 
the  outer  man,  and  the  conditions  under  which  the 
early  friars  set  about  their  work  in  Italy  in  the 
first  flush  of  their  newborn  enthusiasm  twelve  hun- 
dred years  later.  In  both  cases  they  were  enjoined 
not  to  take  money  or  baggage  but  to  rely  for  the 
satisfaction  of  their  physical  needs  upon  the  good 
will  of  the  people  to  whom  they  were  sent.  It  is 
nowhere  stated  that  this  was  their  constant  prac- 
tice afterwards;  in  fact  the  evidence  is  to  the  con- 
trary; the  early  Christian  ministry  was  not  a  men- 
dicant one.  What  Matthew  also  credits  Jesus  with 
saying,  that  they  were  sent  forth  as  sheep  in  the 
midst  of  wolves,  and  would  be  brought  up  before 
governors  and  kings  for  their  Master's  sake;  that 
brother  would  deliver  up  brother  to  death,  and  the 
father  the  child;  and  that  they  should  be  hated  of 
all  men  for  His  name's  sake,  is  explicable  on  the 
understanding  that  the  evangelist  here  combines 
post-resurrection  utterances  with  those  specifically 
relating  to  the  early  Galilean  ministry.  There  is  no 
hint  of  persecution  in  this  first  mission  of  the  twelve. 
They  went,  and  preached,  and  returned  with  their 
report  of  their  reception,  a  report  wholly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  supposition  that  they  had  been  re- 
ceived otherwise  than  with  interest  and  to  some  ex- 
tent with  warmth  of  welcome.  Luke  alone  records 
a  further  mission  of  seventy  disciples  who  seem  to 
have  met  with  nothing  but  success,  a  success  which 
we  may  presume  was  accorded  to  the  apostles  also. 

And  the  seventy  returned  again  with  joy,  saying, 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Lord,  even  the  devils  are  subject  unto  us  through 
th)^  name."  ^^  There  is  no  intimation  of  their  hay- 
ing met  with  hostihty. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  understand  what  Matthew 
means  by  the  statement :  "When  they  persecute  you 
in  this  city,  flee  ye  into  another:  for  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  Ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of 
Israel  till  the  Son  of  Man  be  come."  ^^  But  it  is 
altogether  arbitrary  to  assume,  as  Schweitzer  does, 
that  Jesus  expected  His  own  catastrophic  manifes- 
tation as  the  Messiah  to  take  place  almost  immedi- 
ately, and  that  He  was  bitterly  disappointed  when 
nothing  of  the  kind  occurred.^"  There  is  not  a  par- 
ticle of  evidence  for  this  view,  nor  yet  for  its  corol- 
lary that  it  was  because  of  this  disappointment  that 
Jesus  made  up  His  mind  to  die  as  a  means  of  forc- 
ing on  the  dramatic  consummation  He  desired.  On 
the  contrary  the  narrative  implies  that  the  twelve 
and  the  seventy  were  sent  out  with  precise  direc- 
tions and  for  a  specific  period,  and  that  when  the 
term  was  fulfilled  they  gathered  together  to  Jesus 
again  according  to  arrangement.  No  surprise  is 
expressed  on  either  side  at  the  course  of  events; 
all  was  as  had  been  anticipated  and  is  accepted  by 
Jesus  as  such.  He  says  not  a  word  about  any 
further  prospect  or  that  He  is  dissatisfied  with  the 
results.  "And  the  apostles  gathered  themselves 
together  unto  Jesus,  and  told  him  all  things,  both 
what  they  had  done,  and  what  they  had  taught. 
And  he  said  unto  them.  Come  ye  yourselves  apart 

28  Luke  X.  17. 

29  Matt.  X.  23. 

30  Quest  of  the  Historical  Jesus,  p.  358. 

236 


THE   EARLY   MINISTRY 

Into  a  desert  place,  and  rest  awhile."  ^^  The  most 
obvious  explanation  of  the  sajdng  peculiar  to  Mat- 
thew, that  they  should  not  have  gone  over  the  cities 
of  Israel  before  the  advent  of  the  Son  of  Man,  is 
that  it  belongs  to  the  great  forty  days  between  the 
resurrection  and  ascension  of  our  Lord.  Jesus  cer- 
tainly said  many  things  then  of  which  no  record  ex- 
sists  save  as  echoes  of  them  have  found  their  way 
into  the  record  of  the  earlier  ministry  as  in  this  in- 
stance. And  the  statement  is  literally  true.  The 
Parousia  did  take  place — that  is,  a  spiritual  second 
coming  of  Christ,  a  universal  coming  in  the  life  of 
the  Church  as  a  whole,  a  perpetual  presence  of  the 
Lord  in  the  midst  of  His  own — long  before  the 
apostles  had  covered  all  the  cities  of  Israel  with 
their  personal  witness  to  His  Messiahship. 

The  Baptist's  Message  to  Jesus 

It  is  at  this  point  that  Mark  tells  the  story  of  the 
arrest  and  murder  of  the  intrepid  Baptist,  and  the 
form  in  which  he  tells  it  shows  that  in  this  instance 
Matthew  follows  him  closely;  for  both  evangelists 
introduce  the  story  by  a  reference  to  Herod's  ap- 
prehension that  Jesus  might  be  John  risen  from  the 
dead."  ^^  Evidently  John  had  been  dead  some  time. 
All  three  of  the  synoptics  state,  as  we  have  seen, 
that  it  was  in  consequence  of  the  imprisonment  of 
His  forerunner  that  the  Master  originally  withdrew 
from  Judea  and  made  His  first  appearance  as  a 
public  teacher  in  Galilee.  Up  to  that  point  He  and 
John  seem  to  have  worked  more  or  less  in  associa- 

81  Mark  vi.  30,  31.  32  Mark  vi.  14 ;  Matt.  xiv.  1,  2. 

237 


THE    LIFE    or    CHRIST 

tion.  Probably  it  was  not  very  long.  From  his 
prison  John  watched  the  progress  of  Jesus  for  a 
time  ere  he  himself  was  put  to  death,  and  Matthew 
and  Luke  both  indicate  that  he  did  not  altogether 
understand  the  course  Jesus  was  taking.  He  did 
not  expect  a  ministry  so  beneficent,  so  little  ac- 
cordant with  his  preconceived  idea  of  the  functions 
either  of  an  Elijah  or  of  the  ^lessiah.  Apparently 
his  disciples  had  constant  access  to  him  in  prison 
and  kept  him  informed  of  Jesus'  doings;  in  fact 
Luke  expressly  says  so.  The  Baptist  waited,  and 
as  nothing  further  happened  along  the  line  of  his 
expectations  he  presently  sent  two  of  his  disciples 
with  the  direct  question:  "Art  thou  he  that  should 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another?"  ^^  Had  we  not 
the  fourth  gospel's  account  to  assist  us  we  might 
infer  that  John  and  Jesus  had  not  met  since  the 
baptism,  that  the  former  did  not  know  what  the 
true  significance  of  Jesus'  advent  was  and  that  his 
interest  had  now  been  quickened  by  what  he  heard. 
But  we  cannot  come  to  this  conclusion  with  the  facts 
before  us.  Evidently  John  was  puzzled,  and  won- 
dered if,  after  all,  he  might  have  been  mistaken. 
We  have  already  noted  the  probability  that  he  was 
fully  aware  of  Jesus'  Messiahship  and  even  dis- 
closed it  to  certain  of  his  own  disciples.  He  could 
not  have  disclosed  it  to  all,  for  not  a  hint  is  given 
throughout  the  gospels  that  John's  disciples  in  gen- 
eral shared  this  knowledge.  Even  in  sending  this 
embassy  from  prison  the  Baptist  maintains  his 
reticence.     He  does  not  say  whether  he  regards 

33  Matt.  xi.  3. 

838 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

Jesus  as  the  Messiah  or  only  as  the  herald  of  the 
Tilessiah;  he  hardly  goes  so  far  as  to  suggest  the 
possibility  of  His  being  either.  Before  making  any 
reply,  Jesus  goes  on  performing  works  of  mercy 
in  the  presence  of  the  messengers,  and  then  im- 
pressively observes :  "Go  and  show  John  again  those 
things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see:  the  blind  receive 
their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are 
cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up" 
■ — that  is,  presumably,  the  spiritually  dead — "and 
the  poor  have  good  news  preached  to  them.  And 
blessed  is  he,  whosoever  shall  find  none  occasion 
of  stumbling  in  me."  ^*  This  was  His  answer  to 
John's  misgivings.  His  present  mission  was  as 
Savior,  not  as  judge.  He  had  come  to  declare  good 
tidings,  to  bless  and  succor ;  it  was  thus  that  the 
Kingdom  of  God  should  be  heralded.  Let  John 
ponder  these  things  and  not  allow  doubt  to  develop 
into  disapproval. 

Following  upon  this  episode — which,  as  will  be 
readily  understood,  conveyed  much  more  to  the 
Baptist,  in  accordance  with  the  private  understand- 
ing between  him  and  Jesus,  than  it  would  to  any 
of  those  who  actually  witnessed  it — Jesus  began  to 
speak  to  those  about  Him  in  words  of  highest  com- 
mendation concerning  John.  "What  went  ye  out 
into  the  wilderness  to  see?"  He  inquires — a  plain 
reference  to  the  impression  produced  on  the  na- 
tional consciousness  by  the  preaching  of  the  Bap- 
tist and  to  the  fact  that  many  of  Jesus'  present 
audience  had  flocked  to  the  Judean  wilderness  to 

3*  Matt.  xi.  4-6 ;  Luke  vii.  18  #. 

239 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

see  and  hear  him.  Mark  omits  this  particular 
encomium,  though  elsewhere — in  his  account  of 
what  followed  the  transfiguration — he  states  like 
the  others  that  Jesus  expressly  declared  to  the  inner 
circle  of  the  apostles  that  John  the  Baptist  fulfilled 
the  function  of  the  expected  Elijah  and  was  His 
own  forerunner.  But  this  is  a  point  which  belongs 
to  a  later  and  important  development.  For  the 
moment  it  is  sufficient  to  recognize  that  in  His  pub- 
lic eulogj^  of  John,  which  Matthew  and  Luke  re- 
port, Jesus  declares  John  to  be  more  than  a 
prophet,  namely,  the  divine  messenger  foretold  in 
Malachi  iii.  1,  whose  advent  was  to  herald  that  of 
the  Messiah  Himself.  He  tells  His  hearers  that 
this  is  the  Elijah  of  prophecy^not  literally,  but 
in  the  fact  that  his  work  has  been  to  prepare  the  way 
for  a  greater  advent,  the  advent  of  the  Messiah- 
judge — but  He  is  careful  not  to  say  that  He  Him- 
self is  that  Messiah- judge,  nor  would  His  hearers 
be  likely  to  make  that  deduction  from  His  words 
in  the  circumstances.  They  would  not  think  of  this 
compassionate  teacher  and  healer,  notwithstanding 
His  majesty  and  force,  as  answering  to  the  popu- 
lar expectation  of  the  One  who  was  to  bring  the  af- 
fairs of  the  world  to  a  sudden  and  mighty  issue. 

Jesus  concludes  His  testimony  to  John  by  the 
striking  statement:  "Among  them  that  are  born 
of  women  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater  than 
John  the  Baptist:  notwithstanding  he  that  is 
least  (or  he  that  is  but  little)  in  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven  is  greater  than  he."  ^°    What  can  this  mean? 

85  Matt.  xi.  7  ff.;  Luke  vii.  24  ff. 

240 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

If  no  greater  than  John  had  ever  lived,  then  he 
that  was  least  in  the  Kingdom  of  heaven  was 
greater  than  all  the  sons  of  men  that  had  preceded 
that  day  and  generation;  this  is  the  logic  of  the 
comparison.  The  most  reasonable  explanation  of 
the  words  is  that  our  Lord  referred  to  the  King- 
dom as  existing  in  heaven  at  that  moment,  and  also 
to  its  coming  establishment  on  earth.  The  least 
among  the  citizens  of  the  heavenly  Kingdom,  the 
sharers  of  eternal  life,  as  it  exists  in  glory  above,  is 
greater  than  the  greatest  whose  eyes  are  partially 
blinded  by  the  shadows  and  limitations  of  earth. 
And  Jesus,  knowing  as  He  spoke,  what  no  one 
else  up  to  then  could  either  know  or  understand, 
that  He  had  come  to  bring  that  heavenly  life  within 
reach  of  men,  to  introduce  in  some  degree  an  im- 
mediate experience  of  the  life  eternal  to  human 
hearts;  knowing  as  He  must  have  done  that  this 
would  mean  an  entirely  new  dispensation,  a  break 
with  the  past  whose  greatness  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  overestimate,  a  new  start  in  histor3%  a  new 
quality  of  life  for  the  individual  rooted  and  grafted 
in  Himself,  a  new  society  living  by  new  and  higher 
standards,  dared  to  say  with  magnificent  vision  of 
the  future  and  with  perfect  truth,  that  not  even 
John  had  grasped  the  implications  of  the  Gospel 
it  had  been  his  work  to  prepare  the  way  for.^*'  John 
did  not  understand  the  mystery  of  redemption,  the 
new  humanity,  or  the  Christian  law  of  love,  to  go 
no  farther ;  he  was  of  the  old  order,  not  the  new. 

^^  For  a  discriminating  comparison  of  the  ideals  of  Jesus  and  His 
forerunner,  vide  Bruce :  Kingdom  of  God,  chap.  iii. 

241 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

Both  Matthew  and  Luke  add  at  this  point  a  re- 
markable comparison  made  by  Jesus  between  His 
own  methods  and  those  of  the  Baptist,  but  only 
Luke  gives  the  reason  for  it.  He  says  that  those 
who  listened  to  His  praise  of  the  Baptist  were  va- 
riously impressed  according  to  their  nature.  "And 
all  the  people  that  heard  Him,  and  the  publicans, 
justified  God,  having  been  baptized  with  the  bap- 
tism of  John"  ^' — a  remark  which  shows  how  ex- 
tensive that  baptism  had  been,  and,  therefore,  how 
vast  the  religious  stirring  which  the  preaching  of 
the  Baptist  had  accomplished.  "But  the  Pharisees 
and  the  lawyers"— that  is,  the  scribes — "rejected 
for  themselves  the  counsel  of  God,  not  having  been 
baptized  of  him."  We  here  get  a  suggestion  that 
very  few  of  the  Pharisaic  order  had  undergone  bap- 
tism at  the  hands  of  John,  though  we  have  already 
been  told  that  some  of  them  wished  to  do  so.  Was 
this  because  John  refused  to  admit  them  till  they 
had  given  proofs  of  sincerity  in  the  matter  of  moral 
reformation?  It  would  almost  seem  so,  for  the 
stern  preacher  had  no  mercy  upon  formalism  di- 
vorced from  genuine  worth.  It  would  only  be  nat- 
ural in  such  a  case  that  the  persons  thus  repelled 
should  have  derided  a  movement  which  they  could 
not  capture  and  control.  Something  of  this  must 
have  been  evident  in  their  demeanor  as  the  Master 
spoke  of  John,  for  He  immediately  continued: 
"Whereunto  shall  I  liken  this  generation?  It  is 
like  unto  children  sitting  in  the  markets,"  etc.^®    He 

37  Luke  vii.  29. 

38  Matt.  xi.  16  #.;  Luke  vii.  31  ff. 

242 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

illustrates  the  reception  of  His  ministry  and  that  of 
John  on  the  part  of  their  contemporaries  by  a  ref- 
erence to  what  must  have  been  a  familiar  scene  in 
any  Galilean  village.    Children  trying  to  get  their 
fellows  to  play,  propose  to  imitate  a  wedding  cere- 
mony or  a  funeral  as  the  case  may  be,  just  as  now- 
adays in  our  own  country  boys  play  at  being  sol- 
diers and  girls  at  housekeeping.     Sometimes  their 
playmates  are  churlish  and  will  not  take  their  ap- 
propriate parts  or  respond  to  any  signal.     Hence 
the  expostulation:  *'We  have  piped  unto  you,  and 
ye  have  not  danced;  we  have  mourned  unto  you, 
and  ye  have  not  lamented."    John  came  as  an  as- 
cetic, a  man  of  austere  habits  and  taking  part  in 
none  of  the  social  festivities  of  his  time;  and  he 
was  called  a  madman.    Jesus  came  living  an  ordi- 
nary, natural  life,  mixing  with  His  fellows  on  all 
ordinary  occasions,  and  the  complaint  against  Him 
was  that  He  was  a  glutton,  a  drunkard,  and  a  fre- 
quenter of  bad  company — this  last,  no  doubt,  an 
allusion  to  the  criticisms  of  His  conduct  in  associa- 
ting with  publicans  and  sinners  at  ISIatthew's  table. 
It  is  startling  to  read  that  anything  as  coarse  and 
vindictive  as  this  could  ever  have  been  said  about 
Jesus  or  that  there  could  have  been  aught  in  His 
behavior  to  lend  color  to  it  in  the  remotest  degree. 
We  have,  therefore,  a  brief  glimpse  likewise  of  an 
impending  rupture  with  orthodox  society  at  large 
in  the  very  places  where  the  Master's  work  had  at- 
tracted most  attention.     It  may  relate  to  a  some- 
what later  period,  but  both  INIatthew  and  Luke 
suggest  that  the  denunciation  was  spoken  at  or 

243 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

about  the  time  of  the  sending  forth  of  the  twelve 
on  the  mission  already  specified.  It  is  rather  sur- 
prising to  find  Jesus  speaking  in  such  scathing  tones 
of  Capernaum  and  Bethsaida  wherein  He  had  done 
so  much,  and  apparently  up  to  then  been  well  re- 
ceived. We  cannot  come  to  any  other  conclusion 
from  the  evidence  than  that  the  feast  in  Matthew's 
house  made  an  enormous  difference  to  Jesus'  stand- 
ing in  the  community,  and  that  henceforth  He  was 
treated  with  ingratitude  and  contumely  and  not 
made  welcome  to  the  synagogue  as  previously. 

How  long  it  was  after  these  events  before  the 
Baptist  was  put  to  death  is  nowhere  indicated. 
Although  Herod  had  imprisoned  John  he  still  paid 
him  a  certain  deference,  for  it  is  said  that  "he  did 
many  things  and  heard  him  gladly."  ^^  The 
preacher  was  under  restraint,  but  the  tyrant  re- 
garded him  as  a  man  of  God,  nevertheless,  and  paid 
some  heed  to  his  words  until  the  day  came  when  at 
the  instance  of  a  wicked  woman  he  reluctantly  con- 
sented to  take  away  his  life.  Herodias  had  never 
forgiven  John  for  his  bold  denunciation  of  her  adul- 
terous union  with  her  brother-in-law,  and  at  last 
her  opportunity  came.  Her  daughter  Salome  de- 
lighted Antipas  by  dancing  before  him  on  his 
birthday  in  the  presence  of  a  great  assembly  of  no- 
tabilities, and  the  king  impulsively  offered  her  any 
favor  for  which  she  might  ask.  After  consulting 
with  her  mother  the  girl  demanded  the  head  of 
John  the  Baptist.  Herod  was  trapped;  he  could 
not  withdraw  from  his  promise,  greatly  though  it 

89  Mark  vi.  20. 

S41 


THE    EARLY   MINISTRY 

grieved  him  to  keep  it.  He  sent  orders  accordingly 
to  have  John  executed  and  his  head  brought  to  Sa- 
lome. This  was  promptly  done,  and  the  daughter 
of  Herodias  carried  the  ghastly  trophy  to  her 
mother  with  her  own  hands.  It  is  to  be  noted  that 
in  Matthew's  version  of  what  followed  it  is  stated 
that  "his  disciples  came,  and  took  up  the  body,  and 
buried  it,  and  went  and  told  Jesus."  ^'^  It  is  evi- 
dent that  this  seemed  to  them  the  obvious  thing  to 
do,  and  that  their  master's  opinion  of  Jesus  was 
such  that  when  their  tie  with  the  former  was  broken 
by  this  act  of  assassination  they  felt  that  their  place 
was  by  the  side  of  the  latter.*^ 

As  aforesaid,  the  story  of  this  tragic  episode  is 
introduced  by  ]Mark,  and  following  him  by  Mat- 
thew, with  the  observation  that  at  the  height  of  the 
Galilean  ministry  Herod  Antipas,  hearing  of  the 
doings  of  Jesus,  expressed  the  belief  that  He  might 
be  John  the  Baptist  risen  from  the  dead.  Luke 
states  that  it  M^as  other  people  who  said  this  and 
that  Herod  was  perplexed  thereby.  "John  have  I 
beheaded,"  he  declared,  "but  who  is  this  of  whom  I 
hear  such  things  ?  And  he  desired  to  see  him."  *^ 
It  is  not  a  little  curious  that  it  should  have  been 
possible  at  this  stage  for  any  large  number  of  peo- 
ple to  have  identified  John  and  Jesus,  seeing  that 
the  two  had  actually  been  associated  in  public  work 
in  the  south,  that  Jesus  had  produced  a  marked  im- 
pression in  Jerusalem  while  John  was  still  at  large, 
and  that  later  the  Galilean  ministry  was  attracting 

40  Matt.  xiv.   12. 

*i  But,  as  already  observed,  this  subject  is  still  obscure. 

*2  Luke  ix.  9. 

245 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

such  widespread  attention  during  John's  imprison- 
ment that  the  Baptist  should  have  sent  an  inquiry 
to  Jesus  in  relation  thereto,  and  that  multitudes 
should  have  flocked  to  it  from  every  part  of  the 
country.  That  the  Baptist  and  his  greater  succes- 
sor were  not  universally  confused  in  the  public 
mind  is  plain  enough  from  other  references,  par- 
ticularly, perhaps,  the  remark  attributed  to  Jesus' 
hearers  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jordan  where  John 
originally  baptized:  "John  did  no  miracle;  but  all 
things  that  John  spake  of  this  man  were  true."  *' 
It  is  apparent  from  this  point  that,  not  only  were 
John  and  Jesus  distinguished  from  each  other  in 
the  public  mind,  but  that  what  the  Baptist  had  said 
of  Jesus  was  remembered  by  many  who  had  heard 
and  seen  both. 

We  can  but  conclude  that  any  mystification  which 
arose  on  the  subject  was  confined  to  circles  which 
had  hitherto  paid  little  attention  to  either — namely, 
the  worldly  and  cynical  society  of  Herod's  pro- 
vincial court,  and  perhaps  also  a  few  isolated  cen- 
ters whose  inhabitants  were  too  poor  or  too  indiffer- 
ent to  travel  far  to  listen  to  the  Master  or  behold 
His  works.  And  any  one  who  knows  how  easily 
the  superstitious  and  ignorant  folk  of  the  near  East 
jump  to  conclusions  on  a  subject  of  this  kind 
will  not  be  surprised  that  with  the  disappearance 
of  John  from  the  scene  they  should  soon  have  for- 
gotten to  ask  whether  Jesus  began  to  preach  before 
or  after  the  death  of  His  great  contemporary.  One 
thing  is  indisputable,  and  that  is  that  Jesus  had  a 

«Johnx.  41. 

846 


THE   EARLY   MINISTRY 

considerable  vogue  while  John  was  still  alive  and  in 
prison ;  but,  as  will  be  remembered.  He  did  not  be- 
gin to  preach  in  Galilee  until  John's  public  minis- 
try was  at  an  end.  Herod's  superstitious  fears  and 
guilty  conscience  are  enough  to  account  for  the  ap- 
prehension attributed  to  him,  that  perhaps  the  man 
of  God  whom  he  had  slain  had  returned  to  life  and 
freedom. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD  OF  THE 
MINISTRY 

Jesus'  Relations  with  His  Family 

Several  developments  occur  about  this  time 
which  require  special  attention.  One  of  these  is 
that  while  Jesus  was  still  instructing  the  twelve 
in  a  house  before  sending  them  forth,  the  multitude 
thronged  in  upon  them  in  such  wise  that  there  was 
no  opportunity  for  privacy.  The  summer 
school  in  the  Galilean  hills  was  now  over,  but 
apparently  the  people  were  not  disposed  to  lose 
sight  of  their  teacher.  The  inference  from  the 
text  is  that  the  house  in  question  was  still  Jesus'  own 
or  at  least  the  one  in  which  He  was  accustomed  to 
reside  at  Capernaum.  This  being  so,  the  next  sen- 
tence, peculiar  to  Mark,  is  specially  striking:  "And 
when  His  friends" — that  is,  kindred — "heard  of  it, 
they  went  out  to  lay  hold  on  him:  for  they  said, 
he  is  beside  himself."  ^  Who  were  these  relations 
of  His  who  thus  took  such  drastic  action?  Are  we 
to  identify  them  with  the  mother  and  brethren  men- 

1  Mark  iii.  21. 

248 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

tioned  later  in  the  same  chapter  as  seeking  speech 
with  Him?  It  may  be  so,  but  equally  it  may  not. 
The  point  is  worth  making,  if  only  that  it  frees 
Mary  from  the  imputation  of  joining  in  the  attempt 
to  put  physical  constraint  upon  her  son.  St.  John 
tells  us  that  at  this  period  His  brethren  had  not  yet 
cwne  to  believe  in  Him,  whatever  that  may  mean. 
The  remark  is  made  in  a  connection  which  suggests 
that  they  believed  He  had  certain  supernatural 
gifts  which  might  be  turned  to  profit,  but  not  that 
He  Himself  was  what  His  resurrection  afterwards 
proved  Him  to  be.  He  and  they  had  other  kin- 
dred in  Galilee;  perhaps  it  was  these  who,  under 
the  influence  or  at  the  bidding  of  the  synagogue 
authorities,  took  measures  to  have  Him  sequestered 
for  a  time  in  order  that  the  dangerous  excitement 
provoked  by  His  action  might  die  away;  they  may 
have  been  apprehensive  for  their  own  safety  with 
the  authorities  if  He  were  allowed  to  continue  un- 
checked. Did  they  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon 
Mary  and  her  stepsons  to  this  end?  The  latter 
may  not  have  needed  much  pressure,  but  that  it 
was  made  is  the  obvious  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
Mark  leaves  a  certain  interval  between  the  state- 
ment that  an  actual  attempt  was  made  to  seize  Him, 
and,  that  this,  presumably,  having  failed,  His 
mother  and  His  brethren  later  tried  to  obtain  access 
to  Him,  perhaps  with  the  object  of  warning  Him 
that  He  could  not  continue  in  His  present  course 
without  peril  to  Himself  and  the  family.  All  that  is 
said  here  is  that  they  desired  speech  with  Him  and 
could  not  get  near  Him  because  of  the  crowd.    It 

249 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

does  not  say  that  they  succeeded  in  reaching  Him, 
nor  does  it  say  that  if  they  had  done  so  they  would 
have  taken  a  hostile  attitude;  that  thef  were  op- 
posed to  Him  is  only  an  inference  from  what  is 
stated  in  John  vii  and  in  the  Marcan  passage  above 
quoted,  that  His  kindred  wished  to  place  Him 
under  restraint. 

There  is,  however,  another  passage  which  sug- 
gests that  there  was  some  estrangement  at  this  time 
between  Jesus  and  those  to  whom  He  was  allied 
by  blood,  and  that  is  the  pathetic  observation  made 
in  answer  to  a  certain  scribe  who  impulsively  an- 
nounced his  readiness  to  follow  the  Master  whither- 
soever He  went.  "And  Jesus  saith  unto  him.  The 
foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests ; 
but  the  Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his 
head."  ^  This  does  not  belong  to  the  Marcan  tra- 
dition, but  to  the  source  already  referred  to  as  com- 
mon to  INIatthew  and  Luke.  It  can  only  mean  that 
Jesus  was  now  cut  off  from  His  early  home  and 
domestic  associations,  whether  of  Nazareth  or 
Capernaum  or  both.  The  synagogue  may  have 
taken  drastic  action  and  compelled  this  virtual 
excommunication  after  the  feast  in  Matthew's 
house.  That  Jesus  felt  bitterly  this  want  of  sym- 
pathy on  the  part  of  those  nearest  to  him  in  family 
relationship  is  unquestionable.  Actually  He  had 
plenty  of  places  wherein  to  lay  His  head ;  there  was 
no  lack  of  hospitality  for  Him ;  but  He  was  spirit- 
ually homeless,  exiled,  outcast,  bereft  of  what  was 
once  the  background  of  His  life,  and  He  was  human 

2  Matt.  viii.  20 :  Luke  ix.  58. 

250 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

enough  to  be  very  sad  and  sorrowful  on  account  of 
it.  This  is  one  of  the  many  Httle  ghmpses  in  the 
gospels  that,  as  time  drew  on  and  Jesus'  pathway 
darkened,  He  became  more  and  more  lonely  and 
isolated  from  His  fellows.  Metaphorically  speak- 
ing. He  had  nowhere  to  lay  His  head;  there  was 
no  one  to  whom  He  could  go  for  perfect  sympathy 
and  understanding,  and  He  longed  for  both  as  is 
evident,  for  example,  and  most  movingly,  in  His 
request  for  companionship  in  His  last  dread  vigil 
in  Gethsemane.  Was  it  because  of  this  growing 
sense  of  isolation,  following  upon  His  expulsion 
from  synagogue  circles  and  the  temporary  opposi- 
tion of  His  family,  that  Jesus  uttered  the  saying 
reported  in  more  than  one  connection,  "A  prophet 
is  not  without  honor,  but  in  his  own  country,  and 
among  his  own  kin,  and  in  his  own  house"?  ^ 

How  far  did  INIary  share  the  family  attitude  at 
this  time?  There  is  nothing  to  show,  save  this  one 
intimation  that  she  appeared  with  the  brothers  on 
the  occasion  reported  above.  If  these  brothers  were 
really  her  stepsons  they  may  have  persuaded  her 
to  come  along  with  them  in  order  that  she  might  use 
her  gentle  influence  to  withdraw  Jesus  from  the 
course  on  which  He  had  embarked.  No  doubt,  as 
aforesaid,  they  were  afraid  for  themselves  and  their 
fortunes.^  She,  motherlike,  was  afraid  for  her  son 
and  wanted  to  screen  Him  from  danger.  Even  this 
is  more  than  is  explicitly  stated,  for  the  evangelists' 
bare  remark  that  they  wanted  to  speak  to  Him  is 

3  Matt.  xiii.  57 ;  Mark  vi.  4 ;  Luke  iv.  24 ;  John  iv.  44. 
*  So  Oskar  Holtzmann :  Life  of  Jesus,  p.  248. 

251 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

not  a  definite  declaration  that  they  wanted  to  silence 
Him:  still  it  is  a  legitimate  inference,  especially 
considering  the  circmnstances,  for  at  the  moment 
of  their  arrival  the  antagonism  between  Him  and 
the  religious  authorities  had  become  acute. 

But  His  reception  of  His  mother's  request  sounds 
harsh  and  unnatural  if  we  have  regard  to  its  face 
value  only.  Apparently  He  paid  no  heed  to  it,  but 
instead  went  on  to  say  with  hand  outstretched  to- 
wards His  disciples,  "Behold  my  mother  and  my 
brethren !  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  God, 
the  same  is  my  brother,  and  my  sister,  and  mother."  ^ 
But  we  should  be  doing  an  injustice  to  one  of  the 
most  instructive  episodes  in  the  whole  gospel  story 
if  we  were  to  accept  this  interpretation  as  complete 
and  sufficient.  These  words  were  no  repudiation  of 
relationship  but  the  exact  contrary.  With  that 
readiness  to  seize  hold  of  homely  and  familiar  illus- 
trations of  spiritual  truth  which  always  character- 
ized His  teaching,  Jesus  said  in  effect:  Who  is  my 
mother?  You  all  know  what  motherhood  means; 
how  close,  how  dear,  how  unforf citable  the  relation- 
ship between  mother  and  son ;  many  of  you  know  of 
the  love  that  exists  between  me  and  my  own  mother. 
What  is  brotherhood?  You  know  of  the  special 
bond  it  makes,  how  unbreakable  despite  all  differ- 
ences of  feeling  and  outlook  between  those  born  of 
the  same  parents;  friendship  may  fade  and  perish, 
but  brotherhood  cannot  be  utterly  repudiated.  Sis- 
ters ?  Is  there  any  man  here  who  would  not  cherish 
his  sister  or  feel  no  sense  of  obligation  for  her  safety 

6  Mark  iii.  34,  35.    Cf,  Matt.  xii.  49,  50;  Luke  viii.  31. 

253 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

and  welfare?  Behold  then  the  bond  that  unites  me 
to  all  seekers  after  God.  They  belong  to  me  and  I 
to  them  with  an  even  higher  affinity  than  these 
earthly  relationships.  They  are  as  brothers  and 
sisters  to  me ;  yea,  I  feel  towards  the  aspiring  soul 
a  respect  akin  to  that  which  I  feel  for  my  dear 
mother.  If  these  domestic  ties  are  so  sacramental  in 
their  operation,  what  of  the  ties  between  soul  and 
soul  on  the  highest  plane  of  all  ? 

It  is  indeed  perilous  to  attempt  to  state  in  modern 
everyday  phraseology  what  we  may  reverently  be- 
lieve to  have  been  our  Master's  meaning  in  His  use 
of  the  words  above  quoted,  but  can  it  have  been 
other  than  this?  Was  it  not  an  attempt  to  convey 
by  means  of  a  felicitous  allusion  to  the  dearest 
earthly  relationships  some  consciousness  of  what 
fellowship  must  be  between  spirit  and  spirit  in  God's 
eternal  Kingdom?  Moreover,  it  is  nowhere  stated 
that  Jesus  here  refused  to  see  His  kinsfolk  or  hold 
intercourse  with  them.  The  evangelists  do  not  re- 
cord the  fact  one  way  or  the  other,  for  the  reason 
that  their  interest  was  centered  in  the  striking  say- 
ing which  all  the  synoptics  preserve  and  of  which 
this  meeting  was  the  occasion. 

The   Warning   against   Blasphemy 

It  is  now,  as  stated  above,  that  the  opposition  of 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees  to  Jesus  becomes  overt 
and  uncompromising.  The  evangelists  show  that  it 
was  the  scribes  who  came  down  from  Jerusalem 
who  took  the  lead  in  this,  and  it  is  noteworthy  that 

S53 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

it  was  so.  From  the  first,  our  Lord's  appearances 
in  Jerusalem  gave  rise  to  sharp  controversy  and 
w^ere  evidently  followed  by  visits,  more  or  less  con- 
tinuous, of  representatives  of  the  Judean  Pharisees 
to  Galilee  to  keep  watch  upon  His  movements,  and 
no  friendly  watch.  It  was  these  men  who  are  said 
to  have  declared  that  He  cast  out  devils  through  the 
prince  of  the  devils.  Matthew  records  this  saying 
twice;  no  doubt  it  was  made  many  times.  On  this 
occasion  it  drew  from  the  Master  the  impressive 
warning:  "He  that  shall  blaspheme  against  the 
Holy  Ghost  hath  never  forgiveness,  but  is  in  dan- 
ger of  eternal  damnation."  ^  This  is  a  saying  which 
has  caused  much  perplexity  and  not  a  little  misgiv- 
ing to  many  simple  souls;  but  its  meaning  is  not 
far  to  seek.  Jesus  here  expressly  distinguishes  be- 
tween honest  opposition  to  Himself  and  a  malicious 
hypocrisy  which  refuses  to  recognize  the  presence 
and  working  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  These  accusers 
well  knew  that  what  they  were  witnessing  of  the 
fruits  of  Jesus'  healing  ministry  could  not  be  evil, 
yet  out  of  their  hatred  for  Him  they  pretended  it 
was;  they  knew  it  was  of  God,  yet  willfully  de- 
clared it  to  be  of  the  devil.  Jesus,  therefore,  gravely 
pointed  out  the  danger  in  which  they  stood;  they 
were  running  the  risk  of  quenching  the  Spirit,  their 
only  hope  of  attaining  to  God  and  goodness. 

There  is  nothing  arbitrary  about  the  sentence 
here  defined;  they  were  sentencing  themselves  by 
their  course  of  action.  There  is  no  mystery  about 
the  character  of  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 

6  Mark  iii.  29;  Matt.  xii.  31;  Luke  xii.  10. 

354 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

No  one  has  ever  yet  committed  it  irretrievably  who 
remained  in  grief  and  trouble  about  his  spiritual 
condition  thereafter.  The  truth  is  that,  as  Harriet 
Auber's  well-known  hymn  has  it,  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  the  source  of  every  good  in  us : 

And  every  virtue  we  possess, 
And  ever3'^  conquest  won, 
And  every  thought  of  holiness. 
Are  His  alone. 

What  then  must  be  the  result  of  resisting  the 
work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  our  hearts?  Inevi- 
tably that  in  time  He  will  let  us  alone.  A  sinner 
may  suffer  from  the  prickings  of  conscience  for  a 
time,  but  if  he  persists  in  his  sin  he  will  become 
hardened  and  irresponsive  to  the  monitions  of  the 
Spirit.  He  can  commit  transgressions  by  and  by 
without  the  qualm  that  at  first  would  have  made 
him  wretched  in  his  self-reproach.  This  is  a  ter- 
rible fact,  but  is  only  the  operation  of  a  law  which 
is  quite  understandable.  A  man  who  calls  good 
evil  and  evil  good,  or  deliberately  and  continuously 
denies  what  he  know^s  to  be  the  truth  about  God's 
will,  is  like  a  traveler  going  to  sleep  in  the  snow; 
it  is  the  sleep  of  death.  Literally  construed,  our 
Lord's  words  were  the  enunciation  of  this  law: 
"Whosoever  shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy 
Spirit  hath  not  forgiveness,  but  is  guilty  of  (or  in 
peril  of)  an  eternal  (or  age-long)  sin."  It  is  not 
a  question  of  damnation — the  word  damnation  is 
not  used — but  of  the  sin  itself ;  this  is  damnation. 

S55 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Jesus'  Power  over  the  External  World 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  a  group  of 
nature  miracles  said  to  belong  to  this  period  of  the 
ministry,  and  which  are  full  of  difficulty  to  the 
modern  mind.  The  first  of  these  is  the  stilling  of 
a  tempest  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  a  story  which  has 
its  parallel  in  that  of  the  walking  on  the  sea  as  re- 
corded, not  only  by  the  synoptics,  but  also  by  the 
fourth  gospel.  Luke  records  the  former  but  not 
the  latter  miracle;  John  has  the  latter  but  not  the 
former ;  Matthew  and  Mark  give  both.  Mark  says 
the  occasion  was  after  the  deliverance  of  the  par- 
ables of  the  sower  and  the  grain  of  mustard  seed — 
on  the  same  day,  to  be  precise — whereas  Matthew 
places  it  in  a  different  connection.  Jesus,  as  was 
His  frequent  custom,  had  been  teaching  with  a 
boat  for  a  pulpit,  his  congregation  sitting  and 
standing  on  the  seashore.  At  the  conclusion  of  His 
discourse  He  asked  those  with  Him  to  cross  to  the 
other  side  of  the  lake.  This  was  in  order  that  He 
might  escape  the  crowd  and  secure  some  rest ;  it  was 
getting  towards  evening.  Being  exhausted  with 
His  labors  He  fell  asleep  in  the  after  part  of  the 
boat  with  His  head  on  some  sort  of  a  pillow,  fur- 
nished doubtless  by  the  solicitude  of  one  of  His 
followers.  Was  there  a  woman's  touch  here?  It 
is  not  a  far-fetched  inference,  for  it  is  in  association 
with  this  series  of  incidents  that  Luke  introduces 
a  remark  not  mentioned  by  the  others,  namely,  that 
certain  women  whom  He  had  healed  of  various  in- 
firmities were  of  the  company  of  His  disciples  as 

256 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

He  went  from  village  to  village  preaching,  and  that 
these  "ministered  to  Him  of  their  substance."  ^ 
They  included  some  persons  of  good  position  such 
as  Joanna  the  wife  of  Chuza,  Herod's  steward. 
Mary  Magdalene  was  also  included  in  the  number, 
and  the  evangelist  states  that  there  were  many  oth- 
ers. It  is  a  reasonable  supposition  that  there  was 
a  feminine  touch  about  the  little  attention  to  His 
comfort  indicated  in  the  addition  of  a  pillow  to  the 
furniture  of  the  fishing  boat  from  which  He  had 
been  speaking  all  day;  pillows  were  not  a  feature 
then  any  more  than  now  of  fishing  boats  cruising 
along  the  lake  shore. 

While  they  were  still  in  the  act  of  crossing  the 
lake,  one  of  the  sudden  and  violent  storms  sprang 
up  for  which  that  peculiar  expanse  of  water  is  still 
noted,  but  so  deep  was  the  Master's  slumber  that 
it  did  not  awaken  Him,  notwithstanding  the  pitch- 
ing and  tossing  of  the  boat.  They  were  in  danger 
of  being  swamped,  for  Mark  says  "the  waves  beat 
into  the  ship,  so  that  it  was  now  full."  ^  We  gather 
from  the  description  that  all  happened  very  quickly, 
as  is  quite  probable,®  and  that  believing  themselves 
to  be  in  imminent  peril  of  their  lives,  the  men  with 
Him  in  the  boat — who  they  were  is  not  stated — 
rushed  to  Him  panic-stricken,  and  awakening  Him 
cried  out:  "Master,  carest  thou  not  that  we 
perish?"^"  Matthew  gives  the  prayer  as  "Lord, 
save  us,  we  perish."  "     The  same  evangelist  adds 

7  Luke  viii.  3.  «  Mark  iv.  37. 

^  The  Sea  of  Galilee  is  noted  for  the  same  characteristic  to  this 
day. 

10  Mark  iv.  38.  "  Matt.  viii.  25. 

257 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

that  His  first  words  were:  "Why  are  ye  fearful, 
O  ye  of  httle  faith?"  There  are  interesting  varia- 
tions in  detail  in  the  several  accounts  of  the  synop- 
tics, but  all  agree  on  the  main  facts.  This  is  an 
instance  of  the  way  in  which  a  well-established  tra- 
dition was  reduced  to  writing  from  word  of  mouth. 
The  storj''  was  generally  accepted  in  apostolic 
circles  and  universally  known,  hence  the  mutual  in- 
dependence of  the  narratives  in  their  mode  of 
relating  what  happened,  and  their  substantial 
agreement  in  essentials.  They  all  state  that  He 
rose  and  stilled  the  tempest  by  an  authoritative 
command.  Those  present  do  not  seem  to  have  ex- 
pected this  or  anything  like  it,  for  Mark  adds  that 
"they  feared  exceedingly,  and  said  one  to  another, 
What  manner  of  man  is  this,  that  even  the  wind 
and  the  sea  obey  him?" 

Here  we  have  an  occurrence  almost  incredible 
from  the  standpoint  of  ordinary  experience  to-day. 
The  healing  ministry  is  admissible  with  reserva- 
tions, for  we  are  not  unfamiliar  with  similar  phe- 
nomena at  the  present  daj^  but  there  is  no  par- 
allel to  this  exhibition  of  power  over  nature.^^ 
Hence  there  are  many  persons,  and  not  wholly 
among  men  of  scientific  training,  who  would 
draw  sharp  distinction  between  this  kind  of 
wonder-working,  and,  say,  the  cure  of  an  epileptic 

12  "The  force  He  embodied  could  hardly  be  denied  a  physical 
expression.  It  was  no  more  extraordinary  to  have  miraculous  power 
over  nature  than  to  have  miraculous  power  over  men.  Miracles  of 
sense  are  no  more  supernatural  than  miracles  of  spirit.  ...  It  had 
rather  surprised  us  had  one  whose  position  is  so  pre-eminent  in  man 
and  history  been  feeble  and  commonplace  in  relation  to  nature  and 
action."    Fairbairn :  Studies  in  the  Life  of  Christ,  p,  158. 

258 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

by  touch  and  spoken  word.  It  is  thought,  and  with 
some  plausibihty,  that  this  class  of  miracle  may  be 
in  the  main  figurative  and  meant,  in  oriental  fash- 
ion, to  have  a  spiritual  significance  rather  than  to 
be  a  relation  of  literal  fact.  And  the  spiritual  use 
of  the  incident  is  obvious.  It  is  that  which  is  com- 
monly made  in  its  Christian  associations. 

So,  when  our  life  is  clouded  o'er, 
And  storm-winds  drift  us  from  the  shore, 
Say,  lest  we  sink  to  rise  no  more, 
"Peace,  be  still." 

But  a  warning  needs  to  be  entered  against  a  too 
ready  acceptance  of  this  explanation.  The  dis- 
tinction thus  noted  between  the  different  classes  of 
miracle  is  not  made  in  the  gospels  themselves.  The 
utmost  that  we  are  entitled  to  say  is  that  perhaps 
the  narrators  were  not  unconscious  of  the  spiritual 
parallel  that  such  a  story  as  this  at  once  suggests 
to  modern  readers.  As  we  have  seen,  it  is  St. 
John's  method  to  give  to  every  miracle  a  parabolic 
use;  and  to  an  extent  this  may  have  been  in  the 
minds  of  the  other  evangelists  also.  But  we  must 
beware  of  concluding  that  the  story  itself  and  oth- 
ers like  it  are  merely  metaphorical.  Let  us  not  lose 
sight  of  the  point  of  view  with  which  we  began, 
that  from  a  transcendent  person  we  may  expect 
transcendent  facts.  A  mighty  being,  belonging  es- 
sentially to  the  supernatural  order,  must  be  cred- 
ited with  a  mastery  over  the  natural  order  such  as 
the  rest  of  us,  conditioned  entirely  by  the  latter, 
can  neither  possess  nor  understand. 

259 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

But  now  follows  an  even  more  perplexing  epi- 
sode. Arrived  at  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  in  the 
territory  of  the  Gadarenes  or  Gergesenes,  Jesus 
healed  a  demoniac,  a  raving  madman,  who  lived 
among  the  tombs  apart  from  human  habitation. 
Like  many  madmen,  he  was  possessed  of  almost 
superhuman  strength.  All  attempts  to  put  him 
under  restraint  had  failed ;  even  chains  were  insuf- 
ficient to  bind  him,  he  had  always  got  away.  This 
weird  creature  was  an  ob j  ect  of  terror  to  the  neigh- 
borhood. "And  always,  night  and  day,  he  was  in 
the  mountains  and  in  the  tombs,  crying,  and  cutting 
himself  with  stones."  "  Matthew  says  there  were 
two  of  these  dangerous  lunatics  "exceeding  fierce, 
so  that  no  man  might  pass  by  that  way;"  "  Mark 
and  Luke  only  mention  one.  Possibly  one  was 
spokesman  and  more  aggressive  than  his  afflicted 
companion.  What  is  most  striking  about  the  in- 
cident is  that  the  poor  creature,  or  rather  the  evil 
being  possessing  him,  is  said  to  have  saluted  Jesus 
in  terms  which  had  not  hitherto  been  employed  by 
any  one :  "What  have  I  to  do  with  thee,  Jesus,  thou 
Son  of  the  most  high  God?"  "  Matthew  adds  the 
question,  "Art  thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  be- 
fore the  time?"^**  Here  again  we  have  the  sug- 
gestion that  evil  spirits  knew  more  of  the  Master's 
heavenly  dignity  than  did  His  contemporaries  on 
earth.  Another  curious  feature  of  the  narrative  is 
that  Jesus  asked  the  name  of  this  possessing  entity 
and  was  told  that  it  was  Legion,  for  there  were 

13  Mark  v.  5.  ^^  Mark  v.  7. 

14  Matt.  viii.  28.  ^^  Matt.  viii.  29. 

260 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

many  of  them.  Most  remarkable  of  all  was  their 
prayer  that  if  they  must  be  cast  out  of  the  human 
body  they  had  invaded  they  might  be  allowed  to 
enter  into  a  herd  of  swine  feeding  near  by.  Jesus 
granted  the  prayer,  with  the  result  that  the  swine 
immediate^  rushed  down  the  slope  into  the  lake 
and  were  drowned.  INIark  says  there  were  two 
thousand  of  them,  so  the  loss  to  their  owners  must 
have  been  considerable.  The  terrified  keepers  of 
the  herd  promptly  rushed  off  to  the  city  with  the 
tidings,  whereupon  the  inhabitants  flocked  out  to 
Jesus  in  great  fear  and  begged  Him  to  go  away  out 
of  their  land.  This  was  an  unusual  request  so  far 
as  Jesus  was  concerned  and  no  doubt  prompted 
by  the  general  apprehension  excited  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  herd  of  swine,  and  is  in  striking  contrast 
with  the  welcome  said  to  have  been  accorded  to  the 
blaster  directly  afterwards  on  the  farther  side  of 
the  lake  whence  He  had  come.  "And  it  came  to 
pass,  that  when  Jesus  was  returned,  the  people 
gladly  received  him:  for  they  were  all  waiting  for 
him."  ^^  These  people  of  Gadara,  if  Gadara  it 
were,  could  not  have  known  the  IMaster  as  people 
did  on  the  Galilean  side  of  the  lake,  though  thej'' 
must  previously  have  heard  much  of  Him,  as  is  evi- 
denced by  the  statement  that  persons  from  Decapo- 
lis  were  amongst  His  hearers  in  Galilee.  They 
acted  under  the  influence  of  fear  in  entreating  Him 
to  go  away,  and  under  the  circumstances  the  fear 
was  not  unnatural.^^    The  amazing  spectacle  of  the 

recovered  demoniac  sitting  at  Jesus'  feet  "clothed 

^^Luke  viii.  40.  is  These  were  a  non- Jewish  people. 

261 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

and  in  his  right  mind"  did  not,  perhaps,  impress 
them  so  much  as  their  own  personal  loss.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  Jesus  granted  their  request  and,  entering 
again  with  His  followers  into  the  boat,  went  back 
to  the  Capernaum  shore.  The  ex-demoniac  begged 
earnestly  to  be  allowed  to  accompany  Him,  but 
Jesus  refused,  bidding  him,  instead,  go  and  tell 
his  friends  and  neighbors  what  great  things  God 
had  done  for  him.  This  he  did  forthwith  in  all  the 
Decapolis  region. 

From  the  advice  thus  given,  as  well  as  from  the 
admission  of  the  twelve,  it  is  apparent  that  by  this 
time  Jesus  was  at  less  pains  to  keep  His  miracles 
from  public  notice.  At  first  it  was  His  habit  to 
request  His  beneficiaries  not  to  draw  attention  to 
what  He  had  wrought  on  their  behalf,  but  as  they 
generally  paid  no  heed,  and  as  public  interest  grew 
in  consequence,  and  many  of  His  most  notable 
works  of  healing  were  performed  on  public  occa- 
sions and  in  the  presence  of  the  religious  authori- 
ties, there  could  be  little  point  in  concealing  them 
any  longer.  His  object  in  doing  so  at  all  could 
have  been  no  other  than  the  wish  to  avoid  the  con- 
centration of  public  interest  on  the  miracles  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  teaching.  That  there  was  danger 
of  this  is  evident  throughout,  but  that  the  teaching 
also  made  its  due  impression  is  equally  clear  from 
what  is  elsewhere  recorded.  After  the  delivery  of 
the  Teaching  on  the  Hill  there  could  no  longer  be 
any  question  of  the  teaching  being  submerged  by 
the  demand  for  signs  and  wonders.  It  is  not  stated 
that  any  miracle  was  performed  during  the  days, 

263 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

or  more  probably  weeks,  during  which  the  open-air 
school  was  held  in  the  Galilean  uplands.     Again 
and  again  also  the  multitudes  flocked  to  hear  Him 
as  He  taught  them  by  parable  on  the  lake  shore. 
No  miracle  has  excited  such  adverse  and  even 
scornful  comment  as  this  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Gadarene  swine.    It  is  the  nearest  approach  in  the 
evangelical  narrative  to  the  type  of  miracle  related 
in  the  apocryphal  gospels,  wherein  a  nonethical 
and  even  nonbenevolent  motive  is  frequently  sug- 
gested.   That  there  is  much  that  is  perplexing  about 
it  cannot  be  gainsaid,  but  in  the  absence  of  full 
information  we  must  be  content  to  leave  it  a  mys- 
tery.    If  demon  possession  is  to  be  accepted  as  a 
fact,  and  no  one  who  knows  the  evidence  will  dis- 
pute it,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  inferior 
creatures  can  occasionally  be  so  possessed  as  well 
as  human  beings.    It  is  less  likely,  for  human  beings 
frequently  open  the  door  to  this  distressing  afflic- 
tion by  their  own  vices,  and  discarnate  spirits  would 
naturally  prefer  human  organisms  to  those  of  the 
lower  animals.     Wicked  and  degraded  spirits — 
earthbound  as  they  are  called — are  said  to  seek 
every  opportunity  of  gratifying  sensual  appetites, 
and  their  own  means  of  doing  so  is  to  obtain  con- 
trol, partially  or  completely,  of  the  bodies  of  be- 
ings still  in  the  flesh  and  whose  habits  are  in  affinity 
with  their  own.    This  is  a  serious  danger  attending 
the  practice  of  necromancy,  and  the  principal  rea- 
son why  the  Church  discourages  it.     And  it  is  no 
imaginary  danger,  as  many  inquirers  into  the  oper= 
ation    of    abnormal    psychical    and    physiological 

363 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

developments  can  testify.  Nor  do  those  who  give 
rein  to  their  passions  unchecked  generally  realize 
the  risk  they  are  running  from  the  same  source.^^ 

The  third  of  this  group  of  nature  miracles  is  the 
feeding  of  the  five  thousand.  Properly  speaking, 
it  belongs  to  a  somewhat  later  period,  namely,  the 
return  of  the  apostles  from  their  mission  to  the 
cities  of  Israel,  but  may  very  well  be  considered 
here.  It  is  full  of  intense  human  interest,  an  inter- 
est so  closel}^  interwoven  with  the  details  of  the 
entire  episode  that  the  two  cannot  be  separated, 
notwithstanding  the  difficulties  of  the  narrative. 
The  story  appears  in  all  four  of  the  evangelists, 
John,  as  usual,  turning  it  to  spiritual  account.  It 
is  hopeless  to  seek  to  reconcile  the  several  versions 
chronologically.  Mark's,  which  is  followed  by 
Luke,  makes  the  event  the  sequel  to  the  apostles' 
report  of  their  doings  during  their  itinerary,  and 
this  seems  the  most  probable.  John  gives  it  no  par- 
ticular connection  at  all;  Matthew  subjoins  it  to 
his  account  of  the  death  of  John  the  Baptist. 
Mark's,  besides  being  the  oldest,  is  certainly  the 
most  suitable  setting  for  the  event  and  is  told  with 
an  artless  verisimilitude  which  is  convincing.  Mat- 
thew does  not  actually  contradict  him,  but  misses 
the  association  of  the  sequence  of  incidents  with 
the  ending  of  the  mission  of  the  twelve.  The  sec- 
ond evangelist  tells  us  that  the  Master,  solicitous 
for  the  welfare  of  these  friends  and  workers  of  His, 

^^  R.  H.  Benson's  Necromancers  illustrates  a  peril  of  obsession 
which  is  not  imaginary.  Vide  Myers'  important  section  on  the 
subject  in  Human  Personality  and  Its  Survival  of  Bodily  Death. 
Vol.  II. 

264 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

bade  them  come  with  Him  to  a  desert  place  and 
rest  awhile;  for,  he  significantly  adds,  "there  were 
many  coming  and  going,  and  they  had  no  leisure  so 
much  as  to  eat."  ^°  Luke  emphasizes  Jesus'  mo- 
tive in  doing  this,  for  this  evangelist  states  that 
Jesus  took  them  privately  into  the  hinterland  of 
Bethsaida,  a  piece  of  rough,  sparsely  inhahited 
country  some  distance  behind  the  city.  He  knew 
that  thej^  needed  rest  and  refreshment  both  of  mind 
and  body,  a  fact  which  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind 
by  all  spiritual  workers.  To  serve  the  world  ef- 
fectually, we  must  retire  from  the  world  periodi- 
cally to  remake  our  souls,  as  it  were.  There  must 
be  a  period  of  taking  in  as  well  as  giving  out; 
spiritual  poverty  and  fussy  activity  frequently  go 
together.  It  is  impossible  to  work  effectual^  for 
God  without  being  much  alone  for  necessary  spir- 
itual infilling.  Our  Master  knew  this  so  well  that 
He  was  careful  to  secure  His  periodical  escapes 
from  the  wear  and  tear  and  exhaustion  of  His  pub- 
lie  ministry  in  order  that  He  might  commune  in 
secret  with  His  heavenly  Father. 

In  this  instance  His  benevolent  object  was  tem- 
porarily frustrated.  He  and  His  followers  de- 
parted in  a  fishing  boat  towards  the  northeast  coast 
of  the  Galilean  lake,  but  the  multitude  observed 
them  going  and  rushed  after  them  along  the  shore. 
In  that  magical  way  in  which  news  travels  among 
comparatively  unsophisticated  peoples,  a  knowl- 
edge of  Jesus'  advent  at  once  preceded  Him  into 
the  district  whither  He  had  temporarily  retired. 

20  Mark  vi.  31. 

265 


THE    LIFE   OF   CHRIST 

Mark  says:  "And  the  people  saw  them  departing, 
and  many  knew  Him,  and  ran  afoot  thither  out  of 
all  cities,  and  outwent  them,  and  came  together 
unto  Him."  ^^  What  we  are  meant  to  understand 
is  that  somehow  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory 
round  about  this  desert  region,  being  thus  informed 
of  the  Master's  whereabouts,  flocked  towards  Him 
again.  Jesus  had  not  the  heart  to  send  them  away. 
The  evangelists  say  that  He  was  moved  with  com- 
passion towards  them,  because  thej'-  were  as  sheep 
not  having  a  shepherd ;  so  the  teaching  and  healing 
ministry  went  on  as  before.  At  length,  as  the  day 
was  drawing  to  a  close,  the  apostles  suggested  to 
their  Master  that  He  should  send  the  people  away 
to  the  farms  and  villages  round  about  to  obtain 
food  for  themselves,  as  they  had  nothing  to  eat. 
To  their  surprise  He  answered,  "Give  ye  them  to 
eat."  John's  version  represents  Philip  and  Andrew 
as  taking  the  lead  in  the  matter,  as  is  natural  when 
we  remember  the  association  of  these  two  men  with 
that  particular  locality.  He  also  gives  a  different 
antecedent  to  the  suggestion  that  Jesus  should  send 
the  people  away.  It  is  the  Master  Himself  who 
puts  the  first  question,  "Whence  shall  we  buy  bread 
that  these  may  eat?"  ^^  The  apostles  who  belonged 
to  the  neighborhood  of  Bethsaida  might  be  sup- 
posed to  know  whither  to  direct  them  or  where 
supplies  might  be  secured.  The  question  seems  to 
have  been  addressed  to  Philip  merely  in  order  to 
elicit  the  reply  which  followed.     Philip  answered 

21  Ibid.  33.  22  John  vi.  5. 

266 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

that  it  was  an  impossibility  to  obtain  sufficient  food 
in  that  remote  spot  for  so  large  a  number  of  mouths, 
even  if  they  had  the  means  wherewith  to  purchase  it, 
which  they  had  not.  "Two  hundred  pennyworth  of 
bread,"  he  observed,  "is  not  sufficient  for  them,  that 
every  one  of  them  may  take  a  little."  "There  is 
a  lad  here,"  put  in  Peter's  brother  Andrew,  "which 
hath  five  barley  loaves,  and  two  small  fishes;  but 
what  are  they  among  so  many?"  This  is  a  fuller 
statement  of  the  facts  than  the  other  evangelists 
give,  but  amounts  to  much  the  same  thing.  Mark 
furnishes  the  additional  detail  that  it  was  in  re- 
sponse to  a  suggestion  from  Jesus  Himself  that 
Andrew  gave  this  report  of  their  meager  resources. 
"He  saith  unto  them,  How  many  loaves  have  ye? 
go  and  see.  And  when  they  knew,  they  say.  Five, 
and  two  fishes."  ^^  Jesus  then  directed  the  twelve 
to  make  the  people  sit  down  in  ordered  ranks  of 
hundreds  and  fifties,  the  better  to  facilitate  distri- 
bution. This  done.  He  took  the  loaves,  blessed 
them,  and  went  on  breaking  and  handing  to  the 
apostles,  who,  in  their  turn,  passed  along  the  ranks, 
giving  the  bread  to  the  people.  It  is  said  that  they 
ate  and  were  fully  satisfied,  and  that  the  number 
thus  miraculously  fed  was  about  five  thousand  men 
besides  women  and  children.  There  were  twelve 
basketsful  carefully  collected  afterwards  of  the 
fragments  that  remained. 

Mark  introduces  a  picturesque  detail  into  this 
narrative  which  is  absent  from  the  others,  namely, 
that  the  sitting  multitude  was  so  arranged  on  the 

23  Mark  vi.  38. 

267 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

green  grass  by  the  Lord's  command  as  to  look  like 
a  vast  garden  of  flowers.  This  is  the  force  of  the 
wording  of  the  Greek  original  in  which  the  story 
comes  from  his  pen.  ^*  It  would  be  a  most  striking 
spectacle,  and  Mark's  figure  aptly  describes  it.  So 
large  an  assembly,  in  the  bright,  variegated  attire 
of  orientals  then  as  now,  so  placed  in  companies  of 
about  equal  size  as  to  leave  room  for  the  apostles 
to  pass  easily  up  and  down  between  them,  would 
look  very  much  like  a  great  garden  filled  with  many- 
colored  flowers.  That  the  grass  was  still  green,  as 
Mark  alone  is  also  careful  to  inform  us,  would  add 
to  the  beauty  of  the  setting — a  never-to-be-forgot- 
ten panorama.  Are  we  not  once  more  listening  to 
Peter's  vivid  reminiscences,  so  characteristic  of 
the  quality  of  mind  of  the  impulsive  apostle  as  re- 
vealed over  and  over  again  in  the  'New  Testament? 

Some  difficulty  presents  itself  in  respect  of  the 
locality  where  this  miracle  could  have  taken  place. 
Luke  says  that  it  was  not  far  from  Bethsaida;  Mark 
says  that  the  voyage  which  followed,  and  which 
Luke  does  not  mention,  was  to  have  been  "unto 
Bethsaida."  The  discrepancy  is  not  serious,  how- 
ever. Both  statements  could  have  been  literally 
correct.  What  does  seem  to  have  happened,  in  any 
case,  is  that  the  landing  afterwards  was  not  at 
Bethsaida,  but  somewhere  farther  on,  the  little  sail- 
ing boat  having  been  blown  out  of  its  course. 

The  historicity  of  the  miracle  has  been  much  dis- 
cussed, together  with  that  of  the  feeding  of  the  four 
thousand  elsewhere  recorded.     It  has  been  sug- 

2*  Ibid.  39. 

268 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

gested  that  the  whole  episode  is  figurative  and 
meant  to  denote  the  feeding  of  the  Church  with  the 
bread  of  hfe,  the  apostles  being  the  Lord's  ap- 
pointed representatives  who  take  the  heavenly  food 
from  His  divine  hands  and  administer  it  to  His 
hungering  flock.  This  interpretation  receives  some 
support  from  the  synoptic  wording  of  the  Master's 
command,  "Give  ye  them  to  eat,"  and  is  obviously 
true  in  the  spiritual  sense.  St.  John  carries  the 
similitude  farther,  for  he  reports  a  conversation 
between  Jesus  and  some  of  His  hearers  at  Caper- 
naum on  the  subject  a  little  later,  in  which  the 
Master  exhorts  them  to  labor  not  for  the  meat 
which  perisheth,  but  for  that  which  endureth  unto 
eternal  life."  "I  am  the  bread  of  life,"  He  added; 
"he  that  cometh  to  me  shall  never  hunger;  and  he 
that  belie veth  on  me  shall  never  thirst."  ^^  On  the 
other  hand,  it  should  be  noted  that  this  is  the  only 
miracle  related  by  all  the  four  evangelists,  and  hence 
may  be  assumed  to  have  been  regarded  in  apostolic 
times  as  not  only  one  of  the  most  memorable  but 
one  of  the  best  authenticated,  and  there  is  no  sug- 
gestion in  any  of  the  several  narratives  from  first 
to  last  that  it  was  of  purely  spiritual  significance 
and  without  historical  foundation ;  at  least  it  would 
be  unwarrantable  to  assume  as  much. 

Further,  the  fourth  gospel,  which  gives  to  it  a 
direct  spiritual  application,  is  also  careful  to  dis- 
tinguish between  its  literal  and  spiritual  aspects. 
Thus,  the  Master  is  shown  as  indicating  that  the 
very   people   whom    He   had   thus   benefited   had 

25  John  vi.  35. 

269 


26 


27 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

failed  to  appreciate  the  deeper  meaning  of  His 
words  and  works.  "Ye  seek  me,"  He  said,  "not  be- 
cause ye  saw  the  miracles" — literally,  the  signs, 
not  miracles  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term — "but 
because  ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves  and  were  filled." 
It  was  from  the  standpoint  of  this  rebuke  that  He 
proceeded  to  exhort  them  to  eat  of  the  true  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven,  and  so  perplexing 
did  His  words  become  to  their  materialistic  appre- 
hension that  He  caused  some  of  them  thereby  to 
forsake  Him.  "Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drink- 
eth  my  blood,"  He  declared,  "hath  eternal  life." 
"Many,  therefore,  of  His  disciples,  when  they 
heard  this,  said,  "This  is  an  hard  saying:  Who  can 
hear  it?'*  They  did  not  understand  this  spiritual 
feeding  and  assimilation,  though  they  had  seen  and 
were  quite  willing  to  profit  by  the  marvelous  power 
over  nature  recently  exhibited  by  the  speaker  in 
the  satisfying  of  their  creature  wants.  "From  that 
time,"  adds  the  evangelist,  "many  of  his  disciples 
went  back  and  walked  no  more  with  him."  ^^ 
Strange  indeed!  and  clear  evidence,  if  such  were 
needed,  that  the  public  saw  no  necessary  associa- 
tion between  wonder-working  and  spiritual  emi- 
nence. That  the  apostles  were  able  to  see  more  in 
Jesus  than  the  rest  of  His  contemporaries  is  their 
chief  title  to  respect  and  justifies  their  vocation. 
They  were  susceptible  to  His  spiritual  appeal,  and 
most  others  were  not;  it  was  for  this  that  they  ad- 
hered to  Him  as  is  impressively  brought  out  in  this 
same    connection.      "Then    said    Jesus    unto    the 

26  Ibid.  26.  27  i^id.  54.  28  Jbij^  66. 

270 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

twelve,  Will  ye  also  go  away?  Then  Simon  Peter 
answered  him,  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go?  Thou 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life."  '^  In  the  authorized 
version  of  the  New  Testament  the  declaration  is 
added,  "And  we  believe  and  are  sure  that  thou  art 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  ''  But  the 
rendering  of  the  best  Mss.  is,  "We  have  believed 
and  know  that  thou  art  the  Holy  One  of  God," 
which  is  not  quite  so  definite.  The  time  for  the 
definite  declaration  at  Csesarea  Philippi  already 
referred  to  in  advance  had  not  yet  arrived. 

Events  developed  as  follows.  From  the  experi- 
ences of  this  busy  and  exhausting  day  it  was  now 
evident  that  Jesus'  considerate  intention  of  secur- 
ing a  period  of  privacy  and  repose  for  His  weary 
apostles  would  be  rendered  ineffective  unless  He 
could  adopt  some  other  measures.  He  had  tried 
to  get  them  away  by  themselves  to  rest,  and  the 
onlv  result  of  His  effort  thus  far  had  been  to  bur- 
den  and  tax  them  more  than  ever.  This  was  no 
rest;  it  was  continuous  and  exacting  labor.  So  He 
adopted  a  new  course  to  meet  the  exigency  thus 
created.  It  is  Mark,  as  usual,  who  shows  us  how 
it  was  done  and  gives  us  a  tender  and  illuminating 
flash  of  insight  into  the  Master's  sympathetic  pur- 
pose and  thoughtful  care  for  His  overworked 
friends.  He  says,  "He  constrained  His  disciples 
to  get  into  the  ship,  and  to  go  to  the  other  side  be- 
fore unto  Bethsaida,  while  He  sent  away  the  peo- 
ple." ^^  He  knew  the  people  would  not  follow  the 
disciples  so  long  as  He  was  there ;  He  wanted  these 

29  Ibid.  68.  30  Ibid.  69.  3i  Matt.  xiv.  22 ;  Mark  vi.  45. 

871 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

to  get  away  in  peace,  so  He  forced  them  to  go  and 
leave  Him  to  deal  with  the  crowd — such  is  the  im- 
plication of  Mark's  use  of  the  term  "constrained," 
and  the  motive  thereof  is  perfectly  apparent.  The 
sentence  is  a  beautiful  sidelight  upon  the  Master's 
methods  with  those  about  Him  and  His  wise  and 
watchful  solicitude  for  their  needs.  Having  seen 
the  little  boat  off  with  His  friends  safely  inside  it, 
He  retired  by  Himself  towards  a  height  overlook- 
ing the  lake,  forbidding  any  one  to  accompany 
Him.  He  wanted  to  be  alone  and  pray.  The  peo- 
ple apparently  concluded  that  they  would  see  Him 
again  on  the  morrow;  they  assumed  that  He  could 
not  depart  from  that  desolate  region  without  their 
knowing  it;  so  no  doubt  they  composed  themselves 
to  slumber  under  the  open  Galilean  sky,  waiting 
and  hoping  for  a  renewal  the  next  day  of  the  won- 
ders to  which  they  were  now  becoming  accustomed 
at  the  hands  of  this  marvelous  being.  John  says 
the  miracle  of  the  loaves  had  convinced  them — those 
who  needed  convincing — "that  this  was  the  prophet 
that  should  come  into  the  world."  ^^  He  also  leads 
us  to  infer  that  some  exciting  scenes  took  place  after 
the  departure  of  the  apostles  in  their  fishing  boat — 
perhaps  even  before;  a  good  deal  of  the  narrative 
needs  to  be  filled  in  here.  After  that  wonderful 
meal  in  the  desert  the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd 
mounted  high,  and  it  does  not  require  much  imagi- 
nation to  picture  what  ensued.  Filled  with  astonish- 
ment, they  surged  hither  and  thither  over  the  plain, 
chattering,  gesticulating,  vehemently  urging  each 

82  John  vi.  14. 

272 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

other  on  to  take  some  action  which  would  enable 
them  to  make  the  most  of  the  opportunity  that  had 
come  to  them  in  the  person  of  Jesus.  Jesus  in  the 
meanwhile  was  pressing  His  disciples  to  depart; 
they  had  some  distance  to  go,  judging  by  John's 
way  of  relating  the  event;  and  as  they  went  down 
to  the  sea  by  one  way  Jesus  began  to  withdraw  by 
another.  Now  came  some  sort  of  crisis.  Some  of 
the  bolder  spirits  in  the  promiscuous  assembly 
wanted  to  seize  Him  and  proclaim  Him  king  forth- 
with, whether  He  was  willing  or  not.  Jesus  per- 
ceived this,  says  the  fourth  evangelist,  took  His 
way  up  into  the  hills  as  the  shadows  fell,  leaving 
His  would-be  subjects  still  discussing  Him  on  the 
ground  where  the  miracle  had  been  performed. 
They  waited,  but  He  did  not  come  back ;  and  when 
they  met  Him  again — for  some  of  the  same  com- 
pany appear  to  have  done  so  in  Capernaum  shortly 
afterwards — it  was  with  utmost  curiosity  to  know 
how  He  had  managed  to  transport  Himself  from 
one  district  to  another  without  their  being  aware  of 
the  fact  or  following  His  movements. 

We  may  interject  a  question  here.  Was  it  as 
the  sequel  of  the  excited  discussions  here  indicated, 
culminating  in  the  sudden  scheme  to  put  Him  forc- 
ibly at  the  head  of  a  revolutionary  movement,  that 
Jesus  afterwards  asked  the  twelve,  "Whom  say  the 
people  that  I  am?"  ^^  which  was  the  immediate  oc- 
casion of  Peter's  dramatic  confession  of  His  Mes- 
sianic status?  Luke  inserts  it  immediately  after 
the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand,  which  would  al- 

33  Matt.  xvi.  13 ;  Mark  viii,  27 ;  Luke  ix.  18. 

273 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

most  suggest  that  the  two  events  had  some  associa- 
tion. Mark,  on  the  other  hand,  places  it  later,  and 
records  the  second  feeding,  this  time  of  four  thou- 
sand, as  having  taken  place  in  between.  The  ques- 
tion is  worth  asking,  but  little  more.  There  must 
have  been  about  this  period  a  great  deal  of  animated 
speculation  concerning  the  problem  who  or  what 
Jesus  was  and  what  mission  He  had  come  to  ful- 
fill. No  one,  apparently,  outside  the  apostolic  cir- 
cle thought  of  Him  as  the  Messiah  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  term.  Even  had  they  proclaimed  Him 
king  the  act  would  not  necessarily  have  had  any 
Messianic  implications.  He  would  not  have  been 
the  only  Jewish  adventurer  to  head  a  revolt  against 
Roman  authority. 

But  to  return  to  the  sequence  of  events — Mat- 
thew and  Mark  state  that  when  He  had  sent  the 
multitudes  away  He  withdrew  to  a  mountain  ad- 
joining to  pray,  and  was  there  alone  when  night 
fell.  This  dismissal  of  the  crowd  may  onlj^  have 
been,  as  above  suggested,  a  refusal  to  allow  them 
to  follow  Him  or  place  Him  under  any  sort  of 
constraint;  He  sent  them  from  His  presence  for 
the  time  being,  and  they,  perhaps,  were  content 
enough  to  have  it  so  at  such  an  advanced  hour  of 
the  evening  when  doubtless  all  were  more  or  less 
weary;  any  plans  they  might  form  could  wait  till 
daylight  for  execution.  But  as  Jesus  knelt  on  His 
solitary  eminence  overlooking  the  sea,  He  became 
aware  that  all  was  not  going  well  with  the  twelve 
in  their  fishing  boat.  A  wind  had  sprung  up  and 
was  blowing  hard  against  them.     They  had  low- 

274 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

ered  their  sail  and  taken  to  oars,  and  still  made 
very  little  progress.  It  was  hard  work  after  such 
a  tiring  day,  and  to  add  to  their  difficulties  dark- 
ness had  descended  before  they  had  gone  more  than 
a  mile  or  two.  How  late  it  was  before  they  started 
we  do  not  know,  but  at  past  three  in  the  morning 
they  were  still  tossing  between  twenty-five  and 
thirty  furlongs  from  the  shore  whence  they  had  set 
out.  Instantly  the  Master's  compassion  awoke  on 
their  behalf.  He  must  go  to  them,  but  how  ?  There 
was  only  one  way.  He  arose  and  walked  straight 
towards  the  point  where  they  lay  battling  against 
wind  and  wave,  passing  over  the  sea  as  easily  as 
over  the  land.  Again  it  is  to  Mark  that  we  owe 
the  statement  of  the  motive  for  this  prodigy :  it  was 
because  He  saw  them  in  difficulties  that  He  came 
thus  unexpectedly  to  their  aid.  The  evangelist  adds 
that  He  made  as  though  He  would  pass  by  them 
— not  that  He  intended  to  do  so,  but  possibly  to 
reassure  them  bj^  thus  revealing  His  presence  in 
the  midst  of  the  storm.  But  it  had  the  opposite 
effect ;  they  were  frightened,  supposing  Him  to  be 
an  apparition,  and  uttered  cries  of  alarm.  "And 
immediately  He  talked  with  them" — a  humanly 
suggestive  phrase — "and  saith  unto  them,  Be  of 
good  cheer" — literally,  Courage! — "It  is  I;  be  not 
afraid."  ^^  Following  upon  His  words  He  ascended 
into  the  boat  and  joined  them,  and  instantly  the 
wind  ceased.  John  adds  the  further  detail  that 
immediately  the  ship  was  at  the  land  whither  they 
went. 

34  Mark  vi.  48.  sb  jf^i^^  50. 

275 


34 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Matthew  records  a  further  touching  incident  in 
this  connection  which  greatl^^  increases  the  interest 
thereof,  and  to  which  the  others  make  no  reference. 
Before  Jesus  came  into  the  boat,  when  His  voice 
was  first  heard  out  in  the  darkness  and  the  storm, 
Peter  answered  Him  and  said,  "Lord,  if  it  be  thou, 
bid  me  come  unto  thee  on  the  water."  "^     The  Mas- 
ter compHed  with  the  suggestion,  and  Peter  leaped 
from  the  boat  to  join  Him  on  the  deep.    For  a  brief 
moment  the  apostle  was  able  to  maintain  his  foot- 
ing by  virtue  of  his  faith  in  Jesus,  but  the  raging  of 
the  elements  speedily  daunted  him,  and,  overcome 
with  terror,  he  began  to  sink,  crying,  "Lord,  save 
me."    Hardly  was  the  prayer  uttered  ere  Jesus  had 
caught  hold  of  him,  saying  as  He  did  so,  "O  thou 
of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt?"     It  is 
the  first  evangelist  also  who  tells  us  that  when  Peter 
and  his  Master  had  together  come  into  the  boat, 
all  on  board  prostrated  themselves  before  Jesus, 
saluting  Him  as  Son  of  God.    Here  again  it  should 
be  noted  that  though  the  form  of  address  is  an 
acknowledgment  of  supernatural  status  on  the  part 
of  Him  thus  designated,  there  is  no  explicit  associa- 
tion of  the  words  with  Messiahship.    Jesus  is  here 
called  Son  of  God  in  much  the  same  sense  as  the 
description  was  afterwards  applied  to  Him  by  the 
Roman  centurion  at  the  crucifixion:  "Certainly  this 
was  a  righteous  man"; "'  "truly  this  was  a  Son  of 
God."  ^^    We  must  not  read  into  the  term  the  full 
significance  that  it  now  possesses  for  Christian  faith. 
It  was  an  indeterminate  recognition  of  the  divine 

86  Matt.  xiv.  28.  37  Luke  xxiii.  47.  38  Matt,  xxvii.54. 

276 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

power  inherent  in  Jesus  and  whose  wondrous  exer- 
cise they  had  just  witnessed. 

What  are  we  to  say  to  these  nature  miracles? 
They  stand  on  a  different  footing  from  the  miracles 
of  healing — or  so  it  has  often  been  maintained.  To 
say  the  least,  they  are  much  more  difficult  of  cred- 
ence, without  parallel  in  our  experience  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  and  at  first  sight  bear  a  strong  resemblance 
to  the  manj^  wonder-stories  related  of  mythical 
personages  in  various  periods.  It  is  quite  possible 
to  construe  them  as  having  a  symbolical  meaning, 
as  we  have  already  seen ;  indeed,  we  are  accustomed 
so  to  construe  them  in  our  devotional  usage.  It 
may  be — and  there  is  no  special  reason  to  resist  the 
conclusion — that  this  story  of  the  INIaster  walking 
on  the  sea  is  a  beautiful  parable  of  the  apostolic 
age  relating  to  the  early  experiences  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  when  exposed  to  persecution  and  the 
danger  of  being  destroyed  altogether  while  still  but 
a  small  and  frail  bark  sailing  the  sea  of  earthly 
life.  The  INIaster  watches  from  above  and  comes 
to  the  rescue  at  the  darkest  hour.  Peter's  impul- 
sive action — again  so  characteristic  of  the  first  of 
the  apostles! — in  flinging  himself  into  the  sea  to 
join  his  Master  in  the  verj^  heart  of  the  tempest 
certainly  happened  in  the  first  heroic  age  of  the 
Church's  life  when  he  took  all  risks  for  his  Mas- 
ter's name  rather  than  shelter  himself  by  keeping 
silent  as  he  had  been  bidden  to  do  by  the  authorities 
of  his  own  nation.  "Whether  it  be  right  in  the 
sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than  unto 

God,  judge  ye,"  he  declared,  "for  we  cannot  but 

S7r 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard."  ^^ 
Here  he  was  leaping  into  the  boihng  sea  at  his 
Master's  command  in  very  deed,  and  even  inviting 
that  command.  Moreover,  tradition  has  it,  that  at 
Rome  during  the  early  days  of  persecution,  in  al- 
most the  last  hour  of  Peter's  life,  he  suffered  him- 
self to  be  persuaded  to  seek  safety  in  flight,  but 
was  compelled  by  a  dream,  in  which  he  saw  his 
Master  preparing  to  take  His  place  on  the  cross, 
to  change  his  mind  and  accept  martyrdom.  Nor 
need  we  go  even  as  far  as  this  for  an  explanation 
of  the  miracle  in  a  symbolical  sense.  All  the  above 
was  fulfilled  when  Peter  vehemently  protested  his 
loyalty  in  the  upper  room  on  the  night  of  the  be- 
trayal— "I  am  ready  to  go  with  thee  both  into  prison 
and  unto  death"  ^° — and  then  failed  his  Lord  when 
the  testing  time  came,  but  was  afterwards  recovered 
by  the  tender  grasp  of  that  mighty  hand  which  he 
had  abandoned  to  the  cruel  nails. 

This,  we  repeat,  may  be  the  true  interpretation 
of  this  suggestive  miracle,  and  there  would  be  noth- 
ing lost  by  accepting  it  as  the  only  one.  But  is  not 
the  truth  rather  to  be  sought  in  a  combination  of 
the  literal  with  the  metaphorical?  It  is  not  the 
fourth  gospel  only  that  employs  historical  facts 
for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  a  spiritual  lesson ;  the 
other  gospels  do  it  also,  particularly  the  first;  in 
fact,  they  could  hardly  help  doing  so  with  what  is 
here  so  felicitously  implied.  And,  what  is  more,  it 
seems  to  the  present  writer  that  this  was  one  object 
with  which  Jesus  performed  His  miracles  in  the 

89  Acts  IV.  19,  20,  40  Luke  xxii.  33. 

278 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

first  place.  Were  not  many  of  them,  perhaps  most 
of  them,  acted  parables?  Did  He  not  look  ahead 
and  see  the  day  coming  when  the  spiritual  bearing 
of  much  that  He  was  doing  would  be  remembered 
when  His  visible  presence  would  be  with  His  own 
on  earth  no  more?  It  seems  impossible  to  come  to 
any  other  conclusion  with  the  facts  before  us.  But 
this  is  very  different  from  saying  that  there  was  no 
historical  foundation  for  these  nature  miracles,  and, 
oddly  enough,  in  this  instance  it  is  the  fourth  gos- 
pel which  refrains  from  giving  the  story  a  spiritual 
application ;  as  that  had  already  been  done  b}^  ^lat- 
thew,  by  implication  at  least,  the  writer  probably 
thought  it  unnecessary  to  follow  suit:  he  contents 
himself  with  recording  the  actual  event  like  the  oth- 
ers. We  are  meant  to  understand  that  it  certainly'' 
took  place,  that  the  physical  body  of  Jesus  did  walk 
the  waves  of  the  sea  of  Galilee  and  entered  the 
storm-tossed  fishing  boat  in  which  His  disciples 
toiled  and  feared,  just  as  in  all  the  years  ensuing 
His  spiritual  presence  has  been  with  His  Church 
on  the  stormy  sea  of  human  life. 

Nor  is  such  a  miracle  as  completely  without  paral- 
lel in  the  modern  world  as  is  commonly  taken  for 
granted.  This  was  an  example  of  the  phenomenon 
known  as  levitation,  a  phenomenon  as  fully  attested 
as  any  of  the  supernormal  manifestations  of  human 
facultj'.  The  ascension  was  another,  as  we  shall 
see  in  due  course.  Let  those  who  doubt  the  possi- 
bility of  levitation  acquaint  themselves  with  the 
evidence.  It  is  a  proved  fact,  not  only  of  certain 
saints  in  an  ecstatic  condition,  but  of  some  in  our 

279 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

own  day  who  are  not  credited  with  being  saints/^ 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  whereas  the  disciples 
had  set  sail  towards  Bethsaida,  according  to  Mark 
— that  is,  perhaps  a  comparatively  short  distance 
from  where  they  embarked — John  says  towards 
Capernaum,  which  was  farther  on.  But  Matthew 
and  JMark  both  say  that  they  landed  on  the  coast 
of  Gennesaret,  which  was  farther  on  still.  Appar- 
ently the  storm  had  carried  them  out  of  their  course, 
so  that  Jesus'  intervention  was  not  without  good 
reason  and  may  have  been  necessary  to  save  their 
lives.  The  dwellers  in  that  region  immediately 
knew  Him  and  flocked  to  Him  in  crowds,  as  was 
now  usual  everywhere,  bringing  tlieir  sick  on  beds 
that  He  might  heal  them.  John  adds  an  interest- 
ing variant  to  which  we  have  alread}?^  made  refer- 
ence. He  says  Jesus  was  soon  missed  by  the  multi- 
tude He  had  left  on  the  scene  of  the  miracle  of  the 
loaves.  They  had  seen  the  disciples  go  away  in  the 
only  boat,  and,  knowing  that  Jesus  was  not  with 
them,  they  expected  to  find  Him  there  in  the  morn- 
ing when  He  came  down  from  His  place  of  solitary 
retirement.  When  they  learned  that  He  was  gone 
they  were  bewildered.  The  only  boat  there  had 
been  that  in  which  He  came;"*^  it  had  departed 
without  Him;  and  as  far  as  they  knew  He  could 
not  get  away  otherwise  without  their  knowledge, 
and  yet  He  was  not  there.  Other  boats  presently 
began  to  arrive  from  Tiberias,^^  which  was  some  dis- 
tance south  of  Capernaum  on  the  western  side  of 

*i  Note  the  authentic  testimony  regarding  the  phenomena  of  D.  D. 
Home,  especially  that  of  Sir  William  Crookes  and  Lord  Dunraven. 
*2  John  vi.  23.  43  ii,id,  23. 

880 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

the  lake,  and  we  may  assume  that  they  brought 
tidings  of  Jesus'  presence  on  the  coast  of  Genne- 
saret.  A  considerable  number  of  the  crowd  which 
had  followed  Him  into  the  wilderness  around  Beth- 
saida  now  took  passage  in  these  boats  towards  Ca- 
pernaum in  the  hope  of  coming  in  contact  with  Him 
again.^*  At  the  same  time  Jesus  and  His  disciples 
were  making  their  way  along  the  coast  northward, 
so  that  presently  the  two  companies  encountered 
each  other  in  Capernaum  itself  or  near  to  it. 
"Rabbi,  whence  camest  thou  hither?"  *^  inquired  the 
astonished  representatives  of  the  five  thousand 
whom  He  had  fed  the  day  before  many  miles  away. 
All  thought  of  taking  Him  by  force  to  make  Him 
a  king  seems  to  have  been  dropped  forthwith;  this 
was  manifest^  not  a  person  to  be  compelled  to  do 
their  bidding  in  this  or  am^  other  way.  For  answer, 
as  we  have  seen,  Jesus  exposed  their  selfish  and  ma- 
terialistic motives  and  then  proceeded  to  enforce 
the  lesson  of  the  stupendous  miracle  whereof  they 
had  yesterday  been  the  beneficiaries. 

St.  John  indicates  that,  as  was  now  frequently 
the  fact,  some  Jews  were  present  in  the  synagogue 
at  Capernaum  where  this  discourse  was  delivered, 
and  that  they  took  strong  objection  to  His  calling 
Himself  the  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven. 
"And  they  said.  Is  not  this  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph, 
whose  father  and  mother  we  know?  How  is  it 
then  that  he  saith,  I  came  down  from  heaven?"  *® 
Here  we  have  the  same  allusion  to  His  earthly  ori- 
gin which  is  stated  to  have  been  made  on  other  oc- 

44  Ibid.  24.  45  Jiid.  25.  *^  John  vi.  42. 

281 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

casions.  But  who  are  these  "Jews"  who  are  here 
credited  with  making  it?  Either  the  writer  of  the 
fourth  gospel,  writing  for  Gentile  Christians,  des- 
ignates the  inhabitants  of  Galilee  as  well  as  of 
Judea  by  this  term,  or  else  He  means  us  to  under- 
stand that  Jesus'  family  was  known  in  Judea  as 
well  as  in  the  north.  The  latter  would  appear  to 
be  his  intention,  for  in  the  opening  verse  of  the 
next  chapter  he  says:  "After  these  things  Jesus 
walked  in  Galilee ;  for  He  would  not  walk  in  Jewry 
because  the  Jews  sought  to  kill  Him."  Here,  there- 
fore, we  have  another  undesigned  indication  that 
Joseph  and  Mary  were  of  Jewish  and  not  of  Gali- 
lean antecedents.  Much  of  the  rest  of  the  discourse 
may  be,  as  all  the  long  speeches  attributed  to  Jesus 
in  this  gospel  suggest,  the  author's  very  free  repro- 
duction of  the  substance  of  what  the  Master  actually 
said.  The  most  notable  point  in  connection  with  it 
is  that  it  marks  a  crisis.  A  change  of  feeling  set 
in  regarding  Him  on  the  part  of  some  who  had 
hitherto  counted  themselves  among  His  followers. 
From  this  time  forward  we  shall  find  this  opposi- 
tion growing  and  deepening.  The  period  of  over- 
whelming popularity  draws  to  a  close ;  ^^  henceforth 
there  is  a  party  which  openly  desires  His  destruc- 
tion ;  it  may  have  consisted  mainly  of  the  Pharisees 
and  their  immediate  supporters,  but  John's  words 
would  suggest  that  the  hostility  was  not  confined 
to  these,  but  that  some  of  the  Master's  own  imme- 
diate adherents  now  began  to  turn  against  Him. 

4' His  denunciation  of  Capernaum  and  other  centers  for  their 
spiritual  unresponsiveness  may  have  been  partly  due  to  their  readi- 
ness to  accept  Him  on  other  grounds. 

282 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

Here,  too,  we  get  the  first  hint  of  the  defection 
of  Judas  Iscariot.     Wlien  Peter  made  his  confes- 
sion of  loj^alty  on  behalf  of  all,  Jesus'  reply  was: 
"Have  I  not  chosen  you  twelve,  and  one  of  you  is 
a  devil?"  "^    As  we  shall  see  later,  Judas'  change 
of  front,  which  may  have  begun  from  now,  can  be 
accounted  for  partly  on  the  hypothesis  that,  like 
these  others  who  "walked  no  more  with  Him"  hence- 
forth, he  was  genuinely  disappointed  in  Jesus  and 
found  Him  other  than  he  had  expected  and  hoped. 
Judas  was  from  the  south,  the  only  one  of  the  apos- 
tolic band  who  did  not  come  from  Galilee,  and  there 
is  good  reason  to  believe  that  what  he  wanted  was 
primarily  a  politico-religious   leader  to  vindicate 
Israel  against  the  foreigner.     He  and  the  other 
discontented  ones  now  saw  plainly  that  Jesus  was 
not  that,  whatever  else  He  might  be.    Were  these 
and  Judas  the  prime  movers  in  the  effort  to  seize 
Jesus  the  day  before  and  proclaim  Him  king?    The 
supposition  fits  in  with  the  annoyance  and  disgust 
with  His  proceedings  which  we  are  now  told  super- 
vened.    Not  only  did  Jesus  refuse  to  conform  to 
their  plans  of  violence  and  insurrection  but  He  was 
now  using  mystical  language  utterly  incomprehen- 
sible to  their  prosaic  minds.    They  put  Him  down 
as  an  unpractical  dreamer,  a  half-madman,  per- 
haps.    Here  He  was  calling  Himself  the  bread  of 
life,  exhorting  them  to  eat  His  flesh  and  drink  His 
blood,  calling  God  His  Father,  declaring  that  He 
had  come  down  from  heaven  to  bring  life  to  the 

^8  John  vi.  70. 

283 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

world,  and  so  on.     This  was  not  at  all  what  they 
wanted  or  understood. 

From  this  discourse  in  Capernaum,  therefore, 
following  upon  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand, 
we  may  date  the  beginning  of  the  second  period  of 
the  Master's  ministrj'',  the  period  of  persecution 
and  malevolent  hatred  culminating  in  His  betrayal 
and  death. 

Jesus   as    Teacher 

This  is  a  suitable  point  at  which  to  pause  and 
consider  the  much  discussed  question  whether  Jesus 
can  rightly  be  accounted  a  teacher  or  not — whether 
indeed  He  thought  of  Himself  as  such,  and  if  so 
whether  He  can  be  credited  with  having  enunciated 
a  new  and  original  rule  of  life  or  merely  spoke  in 
terms  of  the  best  that  was  being  thought  and  said 
around  Him  in  the  Palestine  of  His  day.  We  have 
already  had  occasion  to  observe  that  He  Himself 
was  the  most  truly  original  factor  of  the  new  divine 
revelation  that  produced  Christianity ;  in  a  manner 
of  speaking.  He  was  the  authoritative  divine  word, 
not  only  to  His  own  age,  but  to  all  ages  to  come. 
This  much  we  are  justified  in  affirming  from  the 
witness  of  historv  if  nothing  more.  But  to  sav  so 
does  not  exclude  His  actual  teaching  from  the  field 
of  our  interest,  little  though  there  may  be  in  the 
content  of  that  teaching  for  which  a  parallel  cannot 
be  found  somewhere.  It  is  almost  startling  to  come 
upon  sentences  in  the  Testaments  of  the  Twelve 
Patriarchs  which  breathe  the  very  spirit  of  Jesus, 

284 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

and  to  remember  that  He  might  very  well  have  read 
them.  Thus  (Zebulun's  Exhortation  to  His  Sons) : 
"Have,  therefore,  compassion  in  your  hearts,  my 
children,  because  even  as  a  man  doeth  to  his  neigh- 
bor, even  so  also  will  the  Lord  do  to  him";  or 
(Daniel)  :  "Love  the  Lord  with  all  your  life,  and 
one  another  with  a  true  heart" ;  or,  most  striking  of 
all  perhaps,  the  passage  attributed  to  Gad :  "Love  ye 
one  another  from  the  heart;  and  if  a  man  sin  against 
thee,  speak  peaceably  to  him,  and  in  thy  soul  hold 
not  guile;  and  if  he  repent  and  confess,  forgive 
him.  .  ,  ,  But  if  he  is  shameless  and  persisteth  in 
his  wrong-doing,  even  so  forgive  him  from  the  heart, 
and  leave  to  God  the  avenging."  The  parable  of 
the  Last  Judgment  contains  phrases  which  recall 
passages  from  the  Testament  of  Joseph:  "I  was 
sick,  and  the  Lord  visited  me ;  I  was  in  prison,  and 
my  God  showed  favor  unto  me."  Dr.  Burkitt  dis- 
cerns a  similarity  or  connection  between  this 
parable  and  I  Enoch  Ixii,  but  it  is  much  more  likely 
that  the  parable  was  a  piece  of  apocalyptic  writing 
already  know^i  to  Jesus'  hearers  and  deliberately 
modified  by  Him  in  its  moral  significance.  The 
introduction  of  the  figure  of  the  Messianic  king  into 
the  picture  at  once  suggests  this  view.  The  outline 
is  current  Jewish  eschatology,  including  the  refer- 
ence to  the  fate  of  the  wicked;  the  emphasis  upon 
the  ethical  motive — inasmuch  as  ye  did  it,  or  ye 
did  it  not — language,  perhaps,  partly  derived  from 
the  Testament  of  Joseph  just  quoted — is  consonant 
with  all  that  we  know  of  the  mind  of  Jesus  and  may 
represent  the  sole  element  introduced  by  Him  to 

285 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

a  dramatic  story  His  hearers  already  knew  quite 
well.  He  may  have  followed  this  method  on  many 
occasions,  taking  proverbial  sayings  as  He  found 
them  or  even  conventional  aphorisms,  and  giving 
them  an  unexpected  turn.  Sometimes  this  would 
be  a  wiser  and  more  effective  thing  to  do  than  to 
utter  complete  sayings  which  no  one  had  ever  heard 
before,  either  in  form  or  substance.  But,  taken  on 
the  whole,  there  is  not  very  much  to  be  found  in 
contemporary  apocalyptic  that  can  even  plausibly 
be  regarded  as  the  direct  source  of  any  considerable 
portion  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  The  present-day 
tendency  to  ascribe  to  apocalyptic  the  credit  for 
the  bulk  of  the  ideas  attributed  to,  Jesus  in  the  gos- 
pels is  not  borne  out  by  the  facts.  There  is  not 
much  in  apocalyptic,  after  all,  so  far  as  can  now 
be  discovered,  from  which  Jesus  may  be  said  to 
have  borrowed. 

But  one  thing  He  certainly  did,  and  that  of  set 
purpose.  He  used  the  mental  symbols  or  cate- 
gories for  the  conveyance  of  His  message  which 
were  those  of  His  age  and  race  and  on  everybody's 
tongue.  From  a  study  of  Q  we  learn  that  His  men- 
tal horizon  was  not  confined  by  Galilee  and  Judea, 
nor  was  His  teaching  hampered  by  the  belief  that 
a  catastrophic  divine  judgment  was  at  hand.  If 
in  other  parts  of  the  gospels,  and  especially  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  ministry,  He  is  shown  as  using 
language  which,  like  apocalyptic,  stresses  this  view 
of  the  immediate  future,  we  must  take  care  not  to 
misinterpret  the  fact.  He  spoke  in  the  metaphors 
His  hearers  knew  best  and  there  is  no  smallest  indi- 

286 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

cation  that  He  Himself  was  dominated  and  cir- 
cumscribed by  these  modes  of  speech.  Many  diffi- 
culties in  regard  to  the  content  of  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  could  be  removed  by  bearing  this  one  prin- 
ciple in  mind:  His  thought  ran  in  the  molds  pre- 
pared for  it  by  the  Jewish  mentality  of  the  time, 
but  it  was  the  molds  and  not  the  thought  that  for 
the  most  part  His  contemporaries  knew  before- 
hand. It  would  be  hard  to  say  what  was  not  sym- 
bolic in  the  phraseology  Jesus  habitually  adopted 
in  His  public  discourses.  No  one  seems  to  have 
been  surprised  that  He  so  constantly  spoke  of  God 
as  Father.  Evidently  it  was  not  unfamiliar.  The 
invading  pagan  cults  of  which  there  were  evidences 
on  every  hand  would  be  sufficient  to  acquaint  peo- 
ple in  general  with  the  idea  of  associating  deity 
with  paternity;  but  who  would  deny  that  in  the 
mouth  of  Jesus  the  word  had  a  new  ring  ?  The  close 
spiritual  and  ethical  relationship  presumed  in  His 
use  of  the  term  has  made  all  lower  views  of  the 
divine  nature  impossible  since  His  day.  He  was 
not  the  first  to  speak  of  sonship  to  God  either,  and 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  this  particular  figure 
of  speech — for  it  is  nothing  more,  even  in  the  creeds 
— is  more  truly  Hellenic  than  Jewish  in  origin  and 
associations.  It  has  received  a  special  connotation 
in  Christianity,  but  as  first  employed  by  Jesus  it 
may  have  been  adopted  from  the  current  speech  of 
Galileans  as  daily  influenced  by  intercourse  with 
the  many  Greek-speaking  inhabitants  of  northern 
Palestine.  We  need  not  be  afraid  of  admitting  this, 
but  neither  should  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  misled 

287 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

by  it.  It  appears  to  have  been  Jesus'  consistent 
method  to  accept  the  prevailing  sj^mbology  of  His 
time  as  He  found  it,  and  even  to  some  extent  the 
ideas  conveyed  thereby,  and  then  to  have  trans- 
formed and  added  to  the  latter  as  He  chose.  He 
was  never  deceived  into  thinking  the  symbol  more 
than  a  svmbol,  but  merely  used  it  as  a  means  to 
help  His  hearers  to  a  better  apprehension  of  the 
truth  He  had  to  declare.  Thus  if  He  called  God 
Father,  the  Heavenly  One,  He  was  careful  to  ex- 
plain when  occasion  called  for  it  that  this  Heavenly 
One  was  omnipresent  Spirit.  He  was  never  at 
any  time  so  theologically  minded  as  to  call  Himself 
Son  of  Man  to  emphasize  His  kinship  with  the 
human  race  on  one  side  of  His  personality,  and  Son 
of  God  as  an  expression  of  His  divinity  on  the 
other.  Son  of  JMan  and  Son  of  God  were  alike 
derived  from  current  phraseology,  especially  that 
of  apocatyptic,  and  He  did  no  more  than  charge 
them  with  an  intenser  significance  as  a  self-desig- 
nation. As  we  have  seen,  the  very  terms  JNIessiah 
and  Kingdom  of  God  were  useful,  perhaps  indis- 
pensable, symbols  and  no  more.  He  employed 
them  for  want  of  better,  just  as  He  would  have  em- 
ployed any  other  symbols  characteristic  of  the 
thought  and  speech  of  the  period  had  it  been  neces- 
sary so  to  do.  He  knew  they  were  only  of  local 
and  temporary  value  and  that  His  word  was  not 
restricted  to  them,  though  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the 
evangelic  record  compels  us  to  the  conclusion  that 
He  was  the  only  person  who  did  fully  know  this  or 
was  able  to  stand  above  and  outside  the  preposses- 

288 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

sions  of  His  time  while  declaring  in  terms  thereof 
that  which  was  for  all  time. 

There  is  then  no  great  mystery  about  the  teach- 
ing of  Jesus.  Profundity  does  not  exclude  sim- 
plicity, and  its  very  simplicity  is  its  most  outstand- 
ing feature.  He  knew  Himself  to  be  in  His  per- 
son and  the  spiritual  ideal  He  had  come  to  declare 
the  supreme  fulfillment  of  the  spiritual  aspirations 
of  all  preceding  ages.  He  had  to  announce  a  new 
law,  but  not  because  the  old  was  false.  The  Law 
and  the  prophets  had  but  found  their  goal  in  Him ; 
what  He  was  and  had  come  to  reveal  had  been  im- 
plicit in  them  from  the  first,  and  all  the  stumbling 
efforts  of  past  and  present  towards  the  understand- 
ing of  a  perfect  good  were  now  explained. 

There  is  no  sign  of  development  in  His  teaching 
nor  in  His  mind  except,  perhaps,  the  growing  con- 
sciousness that  His  own  death  was  inevitable  as 
part  of  the  price  to  be  paid  before  the  great  con- 
summation could  come  to  pass.  In  what  He  says 
about  the  Kingdom  from  the  very  first  He  is  think- 
ing of  the  ideal  state  of  life  which  is  presently  to 
be  realized  by  those  who  listen ;  He  is  not  thinking 
of  the  gradual  improvement  of  human  society  in 
order  to  make  room  for  it,  or  of  the  gradual  assimi- 
lation of  human  rules  of  action  to  this  standard. 
JNIany  are  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to 
apply  in  theory  the  principles  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  jMount  to  human  society  as  at  present  consti- 
tuted. Such  attempts  are  not  wholly  vain,  but  it 
should  be  understood  that  this  is  not  what  Jesus 
contemplated.     He  is  speaking  all  the  time  about 

289 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

an  ideal  order  which  ah'eady  is,  and  only  in  a  sec- 
ondary sense  of  the  spirit  of  that  ideal  order  as 
taking  possession  of  individuals  on  earth  and  find- 
ing expression  through  them  as  best  it  can.  The 
eternal  Kingdom  is  already  theirs  who  are  humble, 
simple,  unpretentious,  single-minded,  inoffensive, 
earnest  in  their  desire  for  goodness,  spiritual  in 
thought  and  aim,  with  gaze  fixed  on  eternal  values 
rather  than  on  temporal.  The  law  of  the  Kingdom 
rules  the  heart  rather  than  the  outer  man,  or  the 
latter  only  because  the  former.  Charity  and  mag- 
nanimity of  spirit  are  counseled  in  all  relationships ; 
the  children  of  the  Kingdom  are  they  in  whom  a 
spirit  of  brotherly  kindness  is  ever  manifest.  They 
are  to  keep  no  grudges,  to  hold  the  treasures  of 
this  world  lightly,  to  avoid  anxiety,  to  live  as  nat- 
urally by  the  bounty  of  God  as  the  birds  of  the  air 
and  the  flowers  of  the  field.  They  are  never  to  be 
censorious  or  to  give  any  countenance  to  oppres- 
sion and  cruelty.  They  are  always  to  do  to  others 
as  they  would  be  done  by — an  all-comprehensive 
rule  of  life.  Jesus  lays  much  stress  upon  faith  as 
necessary  for  spiritual  life  and  as  the  natural  atti- 
tude of  the  soul  to  God.  This  is  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinctive features  of  His  teaching  and  has  been  much 
misunderstood.  Faith  in  His  sense  of  the  word  is 
not  intellectual  assent  to  a  number  of  propositions, 
but  the  exercise  of  spiritual  instinct.  He  says  noth- 
ing about  the  antithesis  between  faith  and  reason, 
so  familiar  at  the  present  day;  He  rather  assumes 
that  faith  in  God — a  trustful,  humbly  confident 
reliance  upon  a  heavenly  Father's  bounty  and  care 

S90 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

— is,  or  should  be,  as  native  to  the  soul  as  a  child's 
instinctive  confidence  in  the  love  of  father  or 
mother;  indeed,  He  does  not  hesitate  to  illustrate 
the  former  by  the  latter.  There  should  be  no  need 
to  argue  it ;  it  requires  no  proof  any  more  than  be- 
lief in  the  admirableness  of  any  good  requires  proof. 
It  is  because  of  this  point  of  view  that  He  at- 
taches so  much  importance  to  prayer,  and  nothing 
is  more  remarkable  in  what  He  has  to  say  on  this 
great  subject  than  the  absence  of  all  qualification 
of  its  efficacy.  There  is  no  doubt,  no  hesitation,  no 
warning  not  to  expect  too  much.  Prayer  is  the 
communion  of  the  soul  with  God,  and  also  the  state- 
ment of  all  our  creature  wants  in  the  full  and  sim- 
ple confidence  that  they  will  be  supplied.  "Ask, 
and  it  shall  be  given  you;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find; 
knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you :  For  every- 
one that  asketh  receiveth ;  and  he  that  seeketh  find- 
eth;  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be  opened."  *® 
"What  things  soever  ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  be- 
lieve that  ye  have  received  them,  and  ye  shall  have 
them."  ^°  At  a  later  stage  in  the  ministry  He 
taught  His  followers  to  ask  in  His  name — that  is, 
in  such  a  way  as  they  believed  He  Himself  would 
ask  or  approve — and  promised  that  such  prayers 
would  be  certain  of  their  answer.  He  added,  "If 
ye  shall  ask  anything  in  my  name,  I  (myself)  will 
do  it."  °^  But  along  with  this  wealth  of  benedic- 
tion He  also  insists  upon  the  most  utter  and  com- 
plete self-abnegation.  Those  who  would  join  them- 
es Matt,  vii.  7,  8.  so  Mark  xi.  24  (R.V.). 
^1  John  xiv.  14.  Gore:  Prayer  and  Lord's  Prayer,  chap,  ii,  "Pray- 
ing in  Christ's  Name."    . 

291 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

selves  to  Him  are  to  enter  in  by  the  strait  gate  of 
self-renunciation  which  leads  to  true  life;  they  are 
to  deny  themselves  daily,  to  lose  their  lives  in  order 
to  find  them.  People  who  pray  from  such  a  stand- 
point as  this  are  not  likely  to  praj^  selfish  prayers. 
^N^ever  was  a  INIaster  so  tender  and  compassionate 
to  human  frailty  as  Jesus,  never  a  leader  who  made 
such  a  demand  upon  His  followers;  He  exacted 
everything  they  had  to  give,  and  would  be  satisfied 
with  nothing  less. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  His  ethic  involved  de- 
spair of  the  world,  as,  in  fact,  did  that  of  early 
Christianity  as  a  whole  which  remained  true  to  His 
precepts;  and  that  His  counsel  ta remain  carefree 
and  not  to  heap  up  treasures  upon  earth  could  only 
have  reference  to  what  He  believed  to  be  the  com- 
paratively short  time  remaining  before  the  sudden 
and  catastrophic  advent  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
But  in  that  case  why  did  He  warn  His  followers 
of  coming  persecution  and  of  the  divisions  that  His 
name  would  cause  in  the  world?  "Ye  shall  be 
brought  before  governors  and  kings  for  my  sake, 
for  a  testimony  against  them  and  the  Gentiles.  .  .  . 
And  the  brother  shall  deliver  up  the  brother  to 
death,  and  the  father  the  child;  and  the  children 
shall  rise  up  against  their  parents,  and  cause  them 
to  be  put  to  death.  And  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all 
men  for  my  name's  sake."  ^^  There  seems  no  good 
reason  for  setting  these  words  aside  as  representing 
rather  the  experience  of  the  infant  Church  in  after 

52  Mark  xiii.  9,  13;  but  also  in  an  earlier  connection,  Matt.  x. 
18,  21 

292 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

days  than  the  actual  utterance  of  its  founder,  for 
in  the  same  connection  appears  the  mysterious  sen- 
tence: "Verily  I  say  unto  you.  Ye  shall  not  have 
gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel,  till  the  Son  of  Man 
be  come."  ^^  There  is  no  evidence  whatever 
that  Jesus  was  disappointed  in  this  or  that  He 
expected  the  Parousia  in  His  lifetime;  the  e\a- 
dence  of  the  immediate  context,  as  we  have  just 
seen,  is  quite  the  other  way.  He  looked  ahead  and 
foresaw  a  severe  testing  time  for  His  faithful  ones 
before  the  end  came.  He  professed  ignorance  of 
whether  this  time  would  be  long  or  short.  "Of  that 
day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man,  not  the  Son,  but 
the  Father  only."  ^^  The  statement  that  they  would 
not  have  evangelized  the  cities  of  Israel  before  His 
return  is  by  no  means  obscure  to  those  who  have 
eyes  to  see.  It  was  literally  true ;  He  was  thinking 
of  the  new  dispensation  when  He  would  be  spirit- 
ually present  with  His  owti,  of  that  spiritual 
Parousia  which  took  place  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
and  continued  from  that  time  forward.  "Lo,  I 
am  with  vou  alwav,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world"  ^^ — or  rather,  the  consummation  of  the  age, 
the  end  of  the  existing  order  of  things.  The  con- 
summation is  not  yet,  but  the  former  promise  in 
anticipation  thereof  has  been  faithfully  kept. 

The  lengths  to  which  a  preconceived  theory  \vill 
carry  acute  critics  is  nowhere  better  illustrated  than 
in  regard  to  the  perspective  taken  in  the  teaching 
of  Jesus.    It  is  plain  enough  to  ordinary  common 

S3  Matt.  X.  23.  54  Matt.  xxiv.  23 ;  Mark  xiii.  32. 

"s  Matt,  xxviii.  20. 

993 


THE   LIFE   OF   CHRIST 

sense  that  He  did  contemplate  a  period  of  proba- 
tion, during  which  His  disciples  would  have  every 
opportunity  to  put  into  practice  the  principles  He 
laid  down.  It  is  denied  that  there  is  any  indication 
that  He  called  the  twelve  in  order  to  train  them  to 
continue  His  work  when  He  was  gone.  Why,  then, 
did  He  explain  so  much  to  them  privately,  as  we 
are  told  was  His  consistent  custom?  What  did  it 
mean  to  say  that  He  would  build  His  society  upon 
Peter? — which  again  has  proved  to  be  historically 
true,  Peter  being  the  first  to  be  summoned  to  His 
side,  the  first  openly  to  acknowledge  His  Messiah- 
ship  in  the  higher  sense,  and  the  spokesman  and 
leader  of  the  apostolic  Church  in  its  first  public 
appearances  after  the  descent  of  the  Spirit  at  Pen- 
tecost. The  plain  and  simple  interpretation  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  is  that  it  was  intended  for  the 
new  society  He  was  calling  into  existence,  and 
which  has  to  live  its  life  in  the  world  as  at  present 
organized  but  by  the  law  of  a  higher  and  better 
world.  Admission  into  this  society  was  not  to  be 
accorded  to  a  certain  order  of  mind,  but  to  a  cer- 
tain quality  of  heart.  Jesus  may  or  may  not  have 
known  of  the  pretensions  of  Greek  culture,  with  its 
emphasis  upon  intellect  and  its  contempt  of  the 
uninstructed — probably,  as  we  have  seen  reason  to 
conclude.  He  did  know  something  of  it  at  first  hand, 
seeing  that  Palestine  had  become  so  extensively 
Hellenized — but  He  made  it  plain  to  all  that  no 
such  barriers  of  privilege  would  be  allowed  to  bar 
out  the  simple  from  the  heavenly  Kingdom.  On 
the  contrary,  He  warned  His  hearers  that  trust  in 

294 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

intellect  as  well  as  trust  in  riches  might  both  operate 
as  a  disqualification  by  introducing  a  certain  arti- 
ficiality into  the  outlook  of  those  who  were  thus 
burdened.  And  we  all  know  how  true  this  is;  it 
requires  no  small  measure  of  grace  to  escape  the 
distorting  influence  of  either.  "At  that  time  Jesus 
answered  and  said,  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord 
of  heaven  and  earth,  because  thou  hast  hid  these 
things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed 
them  unto  babes.  Even  so.  Father:  for  so  it  seems 
good  in  thy  sight."  '" 

There  are  some  indications  of  esoteric  teaching 
in  what  is  preserved  to  us  of  the  Master's  words, 
and  the  striking  saying  just  quoted  is  one  of  them, 
introducing,  as  it  does,  the  still  more  impressive 
utterance:  "All  tilings  are  delivered  unto  me  of 
my  Father:  and  no  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the 
Father ;  neither  knoweth  any  man  the  Father,  save 
the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal 
Him."  Luke  gives  it  in  connection  with  the  return 
of  the  seventj'-  from  their  mission,  and  adds :  "And 
He  turned  Him  unto  His  disciples,  and  said  pri- 
vately. Blessed  are  the  eyes  which  see  the  things 
which  ye  see,"  etc."  It  would  be  difficult,  indeed 
impossible,  for  popular  gatherings  to  understand 
this  saying  about  the  relation  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son  unless  some  further  explanation  were  forth- 
coming. It  might  not  be  startling  to  hear  the 
speaker  refer  to  Himself  as  the  Son,  for  that  was 
not  unprecedented  and  had  none  of  the  theological 
implications  we  are  now  accustomed  to  import  into 

6«  Matt.  xi.  25.  67  Luke  x.  23. 

295 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

the  term;  but  to  hear  Him  make  such  exclusive 
claims  regarding  it  was  another  matter,  and  from 
what  we  are  here  told  it  seems  reasonable  to  con- 
clude that  the  words  were  spoken  to  a  limited  circle, 
the  circle  He  was  daily  instructing  in  the  nature  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  That  they  would  be  pre- 
pared to  admit  His  own  special  spiritual  authority 
can  hardly  be  questioned.  Peculiar  to  Matthew  is 
the  beautiful  subjoined  utterance:  "Come  unto  me, 
all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn 
of  me;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart:  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  For  my  yoke  is 
easy,  and  my  burden  is  light."  ^^  It  is  an  accurate 
commentary  upon  Jesus'  whole  teaching,  and  no 
doubt  a  reference  to  the  contrast  between  it  and 
that  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  Theirs  was  a 
heavy  and  galling  yoke ;  the  toilers  and  the  simple- 
minded  were  unable  to  bear  it,  could  not  fulfill  its 
requirements,  and  yet,  like  suffering  humanity  in 
all  ages,  they  needed  the  light  and  rest  of  God. 
Only  One  has  ever  proved  Himself  able  to  satisfy 
that  hunger,  and  wise  are  they  that  know  it. 

Jesus'  teaching  on  nonresistance  to  evil  has  been 
variously  construed,  but  it  is  clear  that  the  apos- 
tolic Church  never  understood  it  to  mean  that  the 
State  had  no  right  to  use  force  for  the  suppression 
of  wrongdoing,  and  if  it  has  this  right  within  its 
own  borders  it  has  the  same  right  to  resist  oppres- 
sion beyond  its  own  borders  when  occasion  calls — 
nay,  the  duty  so  to  do.     St.  Paul  says  that  the 

s»  Matt,  xi.  88-30. 

296 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

executive  of  the  State  "beareth  not  the  sword  in 
vain"  and  is  "the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to 
execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil."  ^^  In 
this,  as  in  other  things,  it  may  be  presumed  that 
the  primitive  Christians  knew  the  mind  of  their 
Master;  they  could  not  have  thought  that  Jesus' 
words  about  nonresistance  to  evil  contradicted  those 
of  the  great  apostle  or  the  fact  would  speedily  have 
been  pointed  out.  Moreover,  it  is  evident  that 
Jesus  Himself  believed  in  the  consecrated  use  of 
force.  It  was  only  up  to  a  point  that  evil  was  to 
be  tolerated;  beyond  that  point  He  taught  that 
heaven  would  interfere  to  destroy  it  with  a  strong 
hand.  He  did  not  teach  that  the  world  would  fi- 
nally be  put  right  by  moral  suasion  alone;  on  the 
contrary.  He  distinctly  affirmed  that  it  would  not 
and  that  a  day  of  reckoning  would  come  for  those 
who  were  living  in  defiance  of  the  laws  of  God. 
Most  impressive  of  all,  perhaps,  in  this  connection 
is  His  statement  that  He  Himself  would  be  the 
agent  in  bringing  the  nations  of  the  world  to  judg- 
ment and  passing  sentence  upon  them  by  and  by — 
so  it  is  apparent  that  in  His  thought  there  was  to 
come  a  time  when  He  Himself  would  employ  force 
to  secure  the  ends  of  righteousness.  His  counsel 
about  turning  the  cheek  to  the  smiter  is  meant  for 
the  individual ;  He  does  not  say  that  we  are  to  turn 
any  one  else's  cheek  to  the  smiter,  which  is  what 
is  involved  in  refusing  to  protect  the  weak  against 
the  violence  of  the  strong.  We  are  not  to  resent 
personal  injuries  or  repay  unkindness  in  a  like 

58  Rom.  xiii.  4. 

297 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

spirit.  And  in  this  respect  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
has  been  vindicated  with  the  lapse  of  time.  We  do 
not  now  think  any  man  admirable  who  is  quick  to 
avenge  insults  directed  against  himself;  we  rather 
admire  him  M^ho  ignores  personal  affronts  and  in- 
dignities, but  is  ready  to  stand  up  for  high  prin- 
ciples and  causes  from  whose  vindication  he  may 
derive  no  personal  advantage. 

This  was  very  far  from  being  the  ethical  stand- 
ard of  the  society  in  which  Christianity  first  arose, 
and  was  described  by  the  exponents  of  rival  sys- 
tems as  slave  morality.  It  is  not  universal^  ac- 
cepted even  yet,  but  it  is  on  the  way  to  being.  The 
type  of  character  which  is  most  respected  is  the 
character  which  approximates  to  this  ideal  of  su- 
periority to  personal  considerations  in  one's  bearing 
towards  others  and  acceptance  of  responsibility  for 
the  welfare  of  the  community  as  a  whole.  The  rule 
of  action  thus  laid  down  is  the  one  which  every 
Christian  is  expected  to  obey  so  far  as  he  can.  But 
there  is  a  balance  of  duties;  our  various  relation- 
ships have  to  be  adjusted  to  each  other  in  proper 
and  reasonable  order.  To  hand  one  individual  over 
to  ill-usage  or  affliction  rather  than  to  put  restraint 
upon  the  power  of  another  to  do  evil  is  nowhere 
enjoined  or  implied  in  the  words  of  Jesus.  Wliat 
is  ideally  right  is  that  at  which  we  are  bidden  always 
to  aim  in  this  as  in  other  things,  but  it  may  have  to 
be  modified  by  force  of  circumstances,  so  that  what 
is  practically  right  at  one  time  in  such  an  unideal 
world  as  ours  may  not  be  what  an  enlightened  soul 
would  wholly  desire  or  what  would  obtain  in  a  truly 

298 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

Christianized  society.  This  is  a  distinction  of  some 
importance  and  should  never  be  forgotten  by  inter- 
preters of  the  Master's  words. 

There  are  several  other  special  sayings  in  this 
period  of  the  teaching  to  which  attention  should  be 
drawn.  There  is,  for  example,  the  strong  saying 
about  plucking  out  the  right  eye  or  cutting  off  the 
right  hand  if  these  become  an  occasion  of  stumbling, 
rather  than  having  the  whole  of  one's  members  to  be 
cast  into  hell.  This  appears  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  again  in  the  later  period  of  the  minis- 
try; it  is  quite  probable  that  it  was  uttered  more 
than  once.  Mark's  version  of  it  is  the  more  elab- 
orate and  uncompromising.  The  meaning  is  ob- 
vious once  we  understand  the  metaphor.  The 
sinister  valley  of  Hinnom  outside  Jerusalem  was 
the  scene  of  public  executions.  Criminals  were 
there  stoned  to  death  or  otherwise  made  away  with. 
Worms  preyed  upon  the  dishonored  and  decaying 
bodies,  and  fires  were  lighted  to  consume  the  putre- 
fying flesh  and  carrj-  away  the  stench.  Jesus'  hear- 
ers all  knew  of  this.  Would  it  not  have  been  better, 
He  says  in  effect,  that  these  men  who  have  thus 
incurred  such  a  fate  should  have  plucked  out  the 
eye  or  cut  off  the  limb  rather  than  have  yielded  to 
the  temptation  which  has  brought  them  to  destruc- 
tion? And  it  is  as  true  of  the  spiritual  sphere  as 
of  the  natural.  There  is  a  judgment  of  God  to  be 
reckoned  with  even  if  the  judgment  of  man  passes 
a  sinner  by  unscathed.  Better  mortify  any  natural 
inclination  than  allow  it  to  master  you  to  your  spir- 
itual undoing;  better  restrict  and  deny  a  thing  in- 

299 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

nocent  in  itself  than  allow  it  to  become  the  gateway 
of  evil  suggestion.  JMore  than  this  the  words  do 
not  convey.  Any  attempt  to  interpret  them  liter- 
ally as  relating  to  the  mode  of  punishment  that 
awaits  an  impenitent  sinner  after  death  is  quite  un- 
warrantable. The  worm  and  the  fire  are  both  fig- 
ures of  speech,  and  both  suggest  the  gnawings  of 
remorse  rather  than  any  other  form  of  torment. 

Another  point  that  may  be  singled  out  for  special 
mention  is  the  repeated  declaration  that  there  is 
nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be  revealed,  that  the 
secrets  of  all  hearts  are  to  become  known.  This  ac- 
cords with  probabilitj^  Here  in  the  flesh  what  a 
man  is  may  not  be  fully  evident  to  those  about  him 
or  even  to  himself;  nay,  we  may  be  sure  it  is  not; 
but  in  another  state  what  we  are  and  what  we  seem 
shall  be  one.  There  is  a  gracious  as  well  as  a  stern 
side  to  this  intimation,  too.  When  all  that  is  now 
hidden  in  human  motive  and  aim  come  to  light,  there 
will  be  some  beautiful  things  to  be  revealed  as  well 
as  ugly  ones;  if  we  find  some  persons  to  be  worse 
than  we  thought,  we  shall  find  others  to  be  better. 

The  high  that  proved  too  higH,  the  heroic  for  eartH  too 

hard, 
The  passion  that  left  the  ground  to  lose  itself  in  the  sky. 
Are  music  sent  up  to  God  by  the  lover  and  the  bard ; 
Enough  that  He  heard  it  once :  we  shall  hear  it  by  and  by. 

Jesus  teaches,  too,  that  some  sort  of  purgatorial 
conditions  await  us  in  the  hereafter,  and  His  words 
on  this  subject  are  full  of  solemn  warning.  "Agree 
with  thine  adversary  quickly,"  etc.    "Verily  I  say 

300 


THE  CULMINATING  PERIOD 

unto  thee.  Thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence 
till  thou  hast  paid  the  uttermost  farthing."  ®° 
"With  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured 
unto  you  again."  ^^  If  these  sayings  stood  alone, 
they  would  seem  to  be  an  uncompromising  asser- 
tion of  the  law  of  measure  for  measure,  the  merci- 
less exacting  of  retribution  for  sin.  But  happily  it 
is  not  so;  there  is  a  place  for  the  operation  of  free 
grace  likewise ;  the  law  of  measure  for  measure  has 
to  give  way  to  the  love  that  blots  out  iniquity  on 
repentance.  But  there  can  be  no  leap  from  a  state 
of  sin  to  one  of  holiness,  though  there  may  be  an 
instant  passing  from  a  state  of  alienation  from  God 
to  one  of  contrition  and  reconciliation.  Jesus  bids 
us  know  that  one  evidence  of  that  state  of  grace  is 
tlie  banishment  of  all  grudge  from  our  own  hearts. 
*'If  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses,  neither  will 
your  Father  forgive  your  trespasses."  Again  and 
again  the  Master  insists  by  parable  and  otherwise 
that  such  forgiveness  on  the  part  of  God  is  full, 
complete,  and  without  reserve  and  has  not  to  wait 
to  be  earned,  provided  repentance  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  need  are  equally  deep  and  sincere. 

60  Matt.  V.  25,  26.  ei  Matt.  vii.  2 ;  Mark  iv.  24 ;  Luke  vi.  38. 


CHAPTER  X 

LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

Defections  and  Plottings 

The  great  crisis  in  our  Lord's  ministry  is  the 
discourse  in  Capernaum  noted  above.  His  popu- 
larity had  never  been  so  great  as  immediately  pre- 
vious to  that  event ;  but  henceforth,  as  we  have  ob- 
served, a  certain  amount  of  dissatisfaction  begins  to 
show  itself  on  the  part  of  some  who  had  hitherto 
been  counted  among  His  supporters.  "From  that 
time  many  of  His  disciples  went  back  and  walked 
no  more  with  Him."  ^  These  are  significant  words 
and  indicate  a  great  deal  more  than  at  first  sight 
might  be  inferred. 

To  what  was  this  change  of  feeling  due,  and  how 
far  did  it  extend?  Was  the  falling  away  general 
or  was  it  confined  to  a  comparative  few?  We  are 
not  in  a  position  to  answer  these  questions  very 
confidently,  but  it  would  seem  from  the  various 
hints  on  the  subject  given  in  all  the  gospels  that 
the  defection  was  serious  and  widespread,  and  that 

1  John  vi.  66. 

302 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

Jesus  knew  it  and  took  measures  accordingly.  The 
populace  that  would  have  put  Him  at  the  head  of 
a  revolutionary  movement  because  of  His  wonder- 
working powers  was  speedily  disenchanted  by  His 
firm  refusal  to  lend  Himself  to  any  such  project 
and  by  the  withering  terms  in  which  He  rebuked 
the  sordid  motives  underlying  it.  He  had  already 
antagonized  the  powerful  Pharisaic  party,  and  its 
representatives  were  now  able  to  work  upon  popu- 
lar prejudice  to  His  detriment;  they  pointed  to  His 
own  words  as  at  once  indicative  of  blasphemous 
claims  and  of  unwillingness  to  honor  the  national 
aspirations.  It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  in  the 
south,  especially  in  the  capital  and  its  neighbor- 
hood, there  had  never  been  the  same  friendliness  to 
Jesus  and  His  methods  as  in  the  north;  there  may 
also  have  been  more  animosity  displayed  thereto 
by  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  of  the  south  than  those 
of  Galilee.  From  this  time  forward  the  whole  body 
of  Pharisees,  scribes,  and  priests  begin  to  act  to- 
gether in  south  and  north  alike,  and  to  make  use  of 
Herod's  party  to  compass  their  ends.  They  sink 
their  own  differences  for  the  time  being  in  their 
mutual  fear  of  the  influence  of  Jesus.  It  does  not 
follow  from  all  this  that  the  entire  Galilean  public 
now  turned  against  the  Master;  there  is  evidence 
to  the  contrary;  but  that  He  was  bitterly  disap- 
pointed with  the  spiritual  results  of  the  Galilean 
ministry  is  apparent  from  the  stern  language  He 
employs  with  reference  to  it.  The  very  places  with 
which  His  associations  have  been  closest  hitherto 
now  fall  under  the  ban  of  His  solemn  censure. 

303 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

"Then  began  he  to  upbraid  the  cities  wherein  most 
of  his  mighty  works  were  done,  because  they  re- 
pented not:  Woe  unto  thee,  Chorazin!  woe  unto 
thee,  Bethsaida!  for  if  the  mighty  works,  which  were 
done  in  you,  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  they 
would  have  repented  long  ago  in  sackcloth  and 
ashes.  But  I  say  unto  you  it  shall  be  more  tolerable 
for  Tyre  and  Sidon  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than 
for  you.  And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted 
unto  heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell:  for  if 
the  mighty  works,  which  have  been  done  in  thee,  had 
been  done  in  Sodom,  it  would  have  remained  until 
this  day.  But  I  say  unto  you,  That  it  shall  be  more 
tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, than  for  thee."  ^ 

Such  grave  words  as  these  could  only  have  been 
provoked  by  a  sense  of  the  comparative  failure  of 
the  spiritual  effort  put  forth  in  the  very  region  of 
the  speaker's  greatest  popularity.  Jesus  saw  with 
ever-increasing  sorrow  that  His  value  to  the  ma- 
jority of  His  hearers  consisted  onlj'^  in  the  material 
benefits  they  hoped  to  derive  from  Him.  His  self- 
constraint  in  the  exercise  of  His  miraculous  powers, 
and  the  care  He  had  taken  to  hinder  their  publica- 
tion in  the  earlier  stages  of  His  work,  were  now  seen 
to  have  been  fully  justified.  The  people  thought  of 
little  else  and  had  no  desire  for  aught  higber.  It 
was  but  a  few  individuals,  after  all,  that  had  suc- 
ceeded in  perceiving  His  spiritual  eminence  and 
preferred  the  words  of  eternal  life  to  the  loaves 
and  fishes.    And  had  there  been  no  change  in  the 

2  Matt,  xl  20  ff. 

304 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

demeanor  of  the  Galileans  towards  Him  when  they 
realized  that  He  did  not  intend  to  comply  with 
their  worldly  wishes,  it  is  unlikely  that  He  would 
have  taken  leave  of  them  as  we  are  now  made  aware 
that  He  did.  The  crisis  was  no  small  one.  Soon 
after  the  Capernaum  discourse  on  the  bread  of  life, 
He  retires  from  Galilee  altogether  and  after  a 
period  spent  in  adjoining  territories,  takes  His  way 
southward  for  the  final  scene. 

Retirement  to  Foreign   Soi£ 

What  is  chiefly  remarkable  about  this  interven- 
ing period  of  retirement  is  that  the  first  part  of  it 
was  spent  in  the  heathen  land  of  Phoenicia.  It  has 
already  been  noted  that  people  from  this  territory 
had  come  into  Palestine  to  listen  to  Jesus,  but  He 
could  not  have  been  personally  known  to  the  bulk 
of  the  inhabitants  there.  His  object  in  going  was 
to  obtain  some  measure  of  rest  and  quiet  before 
entering  upon  the  next  and  hardest  stage  of  His 
mission.  Mark  says,  *'He  arose  and  went  into  the 
borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  entered  into  an 
house,  and  would  have  no  man  know  it,  but  He 
could  not  be  hid."  ^  One  wonders  whose  house  this 
was  that  was  thus  honored  with  the  august  presence 
of  the  Son  of  Man.  It  is  not  said  to  have  been  in 
either  Tyre  or  Sidon,  but  rather  on  the  seaboard 
between  them.  Here  the  weary  Savior  finds  a  wel- 
come asylum  within  sound  of  the  waves  of  the  Medi- 
terranean.   Perhaps  one  of  the  many  friends  whose 

s  Mark  -ill  24. 

305 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

existence  is  hinted  at  throughout  the  gospels,  and 
who  were  not  numbered  in  the  apostohc  band,  fur- 
nished it.  Was  he  Jew  or  Gentile?  We  do  not 
know,  and  have  no  information  to  guide  us,  but 
what  followed  would  almost  suggest  that  he  was 
of  non-Jewish  race — a  most  interesting  fact  if  it 
could  be  established.  Jesus  had  hitherto  restricted 
His  activities  to  His  own  countrymen,  feeling,  no 
doubt,  that  in  the  short  time  before  Him  it  was  im- 
portant to  proclaim  His  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  to 
the  only  people  whose  antecedents  had  prepared 
them  for  hearing  it.  If  the  Gospel  could  not  be 
established  on  Jewish  soil,  there  was  small  hope  for 
it  anywhere  else;  it  was  broad-based  upon  Jewish 
religion  and  upon  that  alone;  it  was  a  revelation 
that  presumed  a  previous  special  revelation  and  a 
long  preparation  in  history.  But  that  Jesus  had 
no  intention  of  restricting  His  benefits  to  those  of 
His  own  nation  is  evident  from  several  of  His  most 
important  utterances.  "Many  shall  come  from  the 
east  and  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham, 
and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  Kingdom  of  heaven. 
But  the  children  of  the  Kingdom  shall  be  cast  out 
into  outer  darkness;  there  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth."  *  "The  Kingdom  of  God  shall 
be  taken  from  you,  and  given  to  a  nation  bringing 
forth  the  fruits  thereof."  ^  In  sharp  contra-distinc- 
tion  to  the  rabbinical  teaching  of  His  time,  Jesus 
emphatically  taught  that  the  Jewish  nation  as  such 
had  no  monopoly  in  the  things  of  God. 

This  attitude  is  exemplified  in  the  touching  story 

^  Matt.  viii.  11.  12.  s  Matt.  xxi.  43. 

306 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

of  the  Syro-Phoenician  woman,  who,  learning  of 
His  presence  on  the  coast,  now  came  to  solicit  His 
aid  in  the  healing  of  her  daughter's  madness.  "Let 
the  children  first  be  filled,"  was  the  seemingly  harsh 
reply;  "for  it  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's 
bread,  and  to  cast  it  unto  the  dogs."  ^  This  repulse 
of  a  sorrowful,  pleading  mother  can  only  have  been 
intended  as  a  trial  of  her  sincerity,  though  quite 
consonant  with  the  Master's  usual  reluctance  to  ex- 
tend His  ministry  beyond  the  limits  He  had  for 
good  reasons  marked  out.  The  humble  rejoinder, 
"Yes,  Lord:  yet  the  dogs  under  the  table  eat  of  the 
children's  crumbs"  was  quite  sufficient  for  the  com- 
passionate One  thus  addressed.  It  is  not  Mark  but 
Matthew  who  gives  the  reply  in  its  tender  fullness : 
"O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith;  be  it  unto  thee  even 
as  thou  wilt." ' 

This  is  only  one  of  several  recorded  occasions  in 
which  our  Lord  came  into  contact  with  foreigners 
and  willingly  helped  them.  The  healing  of  the  cen- 
turion's servant  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  of 
these  and  elicited  from  Jesus  the  impressive  en- 
comium, "I  say  unto  you,  I  have  not  found  so  great 
faith,  no,  not  in  Israel."  ^  But  this  took  place 
at  a  much  earlier  stage  in  the  ministry  and  on  Israel- 
itish  soil;  the  incident  we  have  just  examined  be- 
longs, as  we  have  seen,  to  the  period  inmiediately 
following  the  close  of  the  Galilean  ministry,  and 
the  miracle  of  healing  was  performed  for  the  bene- 
fit of  a  heathen  woman  in  a  heathen  land. 

6  Mark  vii.  27.  '  Matt.  xv.  28.  «  Matt.  viii.  10. 

307 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Returning  from  this  probably  not  very  prolonged 
period  of  rest  and  retirement,  Jesus  passed  through 
Galilee  once  more  on  His  way  to  Decapolis,  a  dis- 
trict in  which  He  had  not  hitherto  exercised  any 
public  activities.  It  does  not  seem  likely  that  He 
did  more  than  touch  upper  Galilee  on  this  occasion ; 
He  would  appear  to  have  avoided  the  plain  of  Gen- 
nesaret,  the  principal  scene  of  His  former  labors 
and  the  center  in  which  He  had  made  His  home. 
Whether  He  said  or  did  anything  notable  in  De- 
capolis,  the  evangelists  do  not  expressly  say;  but 
on  His  way  north  again  He  performed  two  notable 
miracles  at  the  Sea  of  Galilee — the  healing  of  a 
deaf  and  dumb  man  and  the  feeding  of  four  thou- 
sand people  in  the  same  manner  as  the  feeding  of 
the  five  thousand  shortly  before.  There  is  some 
difficulty  in  placing  these  events,  especially  as  in 
Matthew's  version  they  were  preceded  or  accom- 
panied by  a  great  amount  of  healing  activity  in  a 
mountain  overlooking  the  great  Galilean  lake. 
There  is  a  want  of  precision  in  the  narrative  of 
these  doings  which  renders  it  difficult  to  under- 
stand; but  on  the  whole  it  is  unlikely  that  any  of 
the  works  recorded  were  performed  on  the  old  fa- 
miliar ground  of  Capernaum  and  the  neighbor- 
hood. Many  critics  take  for  granted  that  this  sec- 
ond miraculous  feeding  is  a  variant  of  the  first, 
that  the  two  stories  relate  to  one  and  the  same  tra- 
dition. But  as  against  this  view  is  the  fact  that 
Mark  records  both  as  having  happened  very  near 
together.  In  the  former  case,  as  we  have  seen,  im- 
portant  developments   followed   which   led   to   a 

308 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

change  in  the  whole  venue  of  the  ministry;  in  the 
second  case  nothing  of  the  kind  is  mentioned,  but 
a  suggestive  conversation  is  added  which  definitely 
presumes  the  historicity  of  both  feedings.  Mark 
says  that  on  this  second  occasion  He  took  ship  after 
He  sent  the  multitude  away  and  came  into  the  parts 
of  Dalmanutha  and  that  the  Pharisees  of  that 
neighborhood  instantly  came  forth  and  began  to 
question  Him,  demanding  a  sign  from  heaven. 
Where  Dalmanutha  was  nobody  knows,  but  if,  as 
seems  likely,  it  was  on  the  Galilean  side  of  the  lake, 
then  the  feeding  of  the  four  thousand  must  have 
taken  place  on  the  other  side  near  to  Decapolis. 
After  refusing  the  sign  Jesus  embarked  again  and 
went  away,  a  proceeding  which  supports  the  hy- 
pothesis that  it  was  no  longer  easy  for  Him  to  make 
any  public  appearance  in  Galilee  and  that  He  had 
no  intention  of  doing  so.  We  gather  from  the  way 
in  which  the  story  is  told  that  He  was  scarcely  on 
the  shore  before  He  was  attacked  by  the  Pharisees 
and  that  He  and  His  companions  forthwith  re- 
turned in  the  same  boat  to  the  eastern  side  of  the 
lake  whence  they  had  just  come.  "A  wicked  and 
adulterous  generation  seeketh  after  a  sign,"  He  de- 
clared; "and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given  unto  it 
but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas"  ^ — that  is,  the 
summons  to  repent  which  was  its  own  attestation, 
an  appeal  addressed  to  conscience. 

This  episode  would  appear  to  have  disturbed 
Jesus  greatly,  for  Mark  says,  "He  sighed  deeply 
in    His   spirit,"   a   sympathetic   descriptive   touch 

»  Matt.  xii.  39, 

309 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

wliich  bears  the  impress  of  first-hand  testimony. 
On  the  return  voyage,  which  He  thus  felt  Himself 
compelled  to  take  to  avoid  these  unpleasant  en- 
counters,  a   strange   and   suggestive   incident   oc- 
curred.     In    the    hurry    of    their    departure,    the 
disciples  forgot  to  take  bread  with  them.     It  may 
have  been  in  order  to  obtain  bread  that  they  had 
touched  on  the  western  shore  at  all.     ISIark  adds 
the  detail  that  the}^  had  only  one  loaf  in  the  ship. 
Jesus,  sitting  deep  in  thought  about  what  had  just 
happened,  suddenly  observed,  half  in  meditation, 
half  in  warning:  "Take  heed,  beware  of  the  leaven 
of  the  Pharisees,  and  of  the  leaven  of  Herod."  ^** 
The  simple  men  made  no  direct  reply,  but,  seeing  in 
the  remark  a  reference  to  the  verbal  encounter  from 
which  they  had  just  departed  they  jumped  to  the 
conclusion  that  their  Master  was  bidding  them  not 
to  accept  bread  from  the  Pharisees  or  their  associ- 
ates: in  other  words,  to  avoid  relations  with  them 
for  the  future.     They  whispered  this  to  one  an- 
other.   *'It  is  because  we  have  no  bread,"  they  said. 
Jesus,  knowing  this,  corrected  their  matter-of-fact 
interpretation  of  His  words,  asking  them  if  they 
had  forgotten  the  two  miraculous  feedings  in  the 
wilderness  and  the  baskets  of  fragments  remaining 
over  from  the  banquet  in  each  case.     "How  is  it 
that  ye  do  not  understand?"  He  asked.    Mark  does 
not  explain  what  it  was  they  were  to  understand, 
but  Matthew  adds:  "Then  understood  they  how 
that  He  bade  them  not  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the 
bread,  but  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees  and  of 

10  Mark  viii.  15. 

310 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

the  Sadducees."  "  Mark's  substitution  of  "Herod" 
for  "Sadducees"  is  not  unimportant.  It  indicates 
that  the  Master  meant  the  ideals  of  living  of  poten- 
tates like  the  cynical  Antipas  on  the  one  hand  and 
of  the  hypocritical  and  self-righteous  religious  lead- 
ers of  Israel  on  the  other. 

Wanderings  in    the    North:    the    Scene    at 
Caesarea    Philippi 

Still  keeping  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  lake,  Jesus 
and  His  few  companions  disembarked  somewhere 
near  Bethsaida  (perhaps  Bethsaida  Julius),  where 
He  healed  a  blind  man.  The  only  notable  fact  about 
this  healing  is  that  it  is  an  isolated  incident  on  this 
journey  and  that,  in  keeping  with  His  policy  of 
avoiding  any  more  public  appearances  in  that  neigh- 
borhood, Jesus  asked  the  man  to  go  quietly  to  his 
own  home  and  not  to  enter  the  town  or  tell  of  the 
miracle  to  any  who  dwelt  therein.  Obviously,  His 
intention  was  to  keep  His  movements  secret  for 
the  present;  He  had  no  mind  to  reopen  His  Gali- 
lean ministry;  that  was  now  definitely  at  an  end. 
The  final  chapter  of  His  earthly  history  was  be- 
ginning. 

Passing  on  northward  He  came  to  the  territory 
of  Herod  Philip,  and  halted  somewhere  in  the  dis- 
trict surrounding  Caesarea  Philippi.  It  is  not 
stated  that  He  entered  the  city  itself,  Philip's  capi- 
tal. Indeed,  judging  from  the  silence  of  the  gos- 
pels, it  would  seem  that  Jesus  deliberately  avoided 

11  Matt.  xvi.  12. 

311 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

all  foreign  cities  in  His  itineraries  throughout  Pal- 
estine ;  He  had  no  love  for  their  pagan  atmosphere 
and  never  attempted  to  deliver  His  message  therein. 
But  on  this  occasion,  with  His  faithful  companions 
— perhaps  the  apostles  only — He  sought  retreat  in 
some  of  the  villages  hereabouts  and  remained  for 
some  time.  And  it  is  during  the  seclusion  thus  ob- 
tained that  He  puts  to  His  disciples  the  momen- 
tous question,  "Whom  do  men  say  that  I  am?"^" 
Several  answers  were  given — John  the  Baptist, 
Elijah,  Jeremiah,  or  one  of  the  old  prophets  risen 
again.  But,  pressing  the  inquiry,  He  continued, 
"But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am?"  The  question  was 
addressed  to  all,  but  only  Peter,  replied.  "The 
Christ  of  God,"  he  said — or,  more  simply,  the  Mes- 
siah. The  synoptics  each  give  a  different  version 
of  the  memorable  utterance,  but  the  variations  are 
unimportant.  If  Peter's  own  recollection  of  the 
words  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  most  exact,  we  have 
it  in  Mark's  rendering:  "Thou  art  the  Christ." 
Matthew  subjoins  to  this  avowal  the  amplifying 
phrase,  "The  Son  of  the  living  God."  It  is  the  first 
evangelist  also  who  preserves  the  Master's  impres- 
sive reply  upon  which  so  much  ecclesiastical  contro- 
versy has  since  turned :  "Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon 
this  rock  will  I  build  my  Church ;  and  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  And  I  will  give 
unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven,"  etc.^' 
The  words  which  follow  concerning  the  power  of 
binding  and  loosing  are  reproduced  elsewhere  in 

12  Matt.  xvi.  13  ff;  Mark  vili.  27  ff;  Luke  ix.  18  ff. 

13  Matt.  xvi.  18,  19. 

313 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

the  same  gospel  and  also  in  St.  John  xx.  23,  where 
they  are  said  to  have  been  spoken  to  the  whole  com- 
pany of  the  disciples  present  in  the  upper  room  at 
Jerusalem  immediately  after  the  Resurrection. 
There  is  some  difference  in  phrasing,  but  the  mean- 
ing is  substantially  the  same.  Whatever  our  Lord 
may  have  intended  by  this  specific  commission  to 
the  apostle,  it  cannot  be  legitimately  held  to  cover 
all  that  is  claimed  by  the  Bishops  of  Rome  at  the 
present  day.  So  far  as  the  New  Testament  evi- 
dence goes,  Peter  himself  never  either  claimed  or 
exercised  the  functions  of  universal  bishop,  the  vice- 
gerent on  earth  of  the  risen  and  exalted  Lord.  But 
Christians  outside  the  Roman  communion  need  not 
disavow  the  distinctive  significance  attaching  to  the 
words  here  quoted.  That  Peter  did  exercise  a  cer- 
tain leadership  in  the  primitive  Church  is  as  un- 
doubted as  that  no  proof  exists  that  he  ever  exacted 
unquestioning  obedience  from  his  fellow  apostles  or 
regarded  them  as  his  subordinates. 

More  difficult  of  interpretation,  perhaps,  than  the 
emphatic  declaration  to  Peter  here  given  is  the  defi- 
nite announcement  which  Jesus  couples  with  it  that 
there  were  those  then  present  among  His  hearers 
who  should  not  taste  of  death  till  they  had  seen  the 
Kingdom  of  God  come  with  power.  It  is  a  saying 
which  can  only  be  understood  in  strict  connection 
with  its  antecedents.  That  the  Master  had  now 
determined  upon  taking  the  apostles  more  fully 
into  His  confidence  with  regard  to  the  future  is  the 
explanation  of  this  private  conference  with  them  at 
Cassarea  Philippi.     He  had  not  hitherto  acknowl- 

313 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

edged  His  Messiahship  even  to  them  for  reasons  to 
which  we  have  ah-eady  referred.    That  they  on  their 
part,  were  prepared  to  admit  it  as  a  possibiHty  is 
apparent  from  the  testimony  of  the  fourth  gospel, 
but  by  this  time  it  must  have  become  clear  to  all  of 
them  that  if  Jesus  really  were  the  Messiah,  He  was 
such  a  Messiah  as  no  one  had  hitherto  anticipated; 
He  did  not  fit  in  with  popular  expectation  at  all. 
That  He  should  now  explicitly  disclose  His  identity 
to  them  in  these  terms  was  to  open  up  a  vista  of 
possibilities,  not,  indeed,  free  from  perplexity,  but 
full  of  marvelous  promise  for  the  future  of  man- 
kind.   Henceforth  they  would  have  to  identify  the 
Galilean  teacher  and  wonder-worker  with  the  hope 
of  Israel  and  the  world — how  they  did  not  at  pres- 
ent understand,  but  would  have  to  wait  for  the  re- 
vealing. 

In  the  view  of  the  present  writer,  however,  even 
this  was  not  the  main  point  of  the  discussion  re- 
corded. It  was  not  Jesus'  Messiahship  that  was  in 
question  here  and  now  so  much  as  the  association 
of  that  Messiahship  with  suffering  and  death.  He 
had  brought  them  there  to  tell  them  that.  He  first 
got  them  to  acknowledge  the  Messiahship,  binding 
them  to  keep  it  secret  yet  a  little  longer,  and  then 
went  on  to  teach  them  "that  the  Son  of  Man  must 
suffer  many  things,  and  be  rejected  of  the  elders, 
and  of  the  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be  killed, 
and  after  three  days  rise  again."  **  It  was  in  order 
to  reveal  this  that  He  had  introduced  the  subject  of 
His  IMessiahship  at  all;  from  now  onward  they 

1*  Mark  viii.  31. 

314 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

were  to  think  of  the  two  in  conjunction  a  hard  task, 
if  not  an  impossible  one,  for  minds  constituted  as 
theirs  were.  A  prophet  being  put  to  death  they 
could  understand,  but  that  such  a  fate  would  be  re- 
served for  the  Messiah  was  incomprehensible. 
Again  Peter  voiced  the  feelings  of  the  rest  by  im- 
pulsively exclaiming,  "Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord; 
this  shall  not  be  unto  thee."  Apart  from  their  un- 
willingness to  think  of  their  Master  as  having  to 
submit  to  such  ignominy  and  disaster,  there  was  this 
new  factor  to  be  disposed  of:  how  could  the  Mes- 
siah be  treated  thus  ?  The  Messiah  would  not  come 
to  suffer  but  to  conquer,  and  if  Jesus  were  the 
Messiah  soon  to  be  declared  He  would  inevitably 
carry  all  before  Him.  A  tragical  finish  to  His  pres- 
ent work  could  not  be  assimilated  to  such  a  con- 
summation. It  may  be  that  the  idea  that  Jesus  was 
the  Messiah  had  often  been  discussed  between  the 
members  of  this  little  group;  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  it  was  not.  Perhaps  Peter's  public  con- 
fession of  it  was  only  an  avowal  of  the  conviction 
at  which  they  had  unanimously  arrived  already. 
Perhaps  they  had  been  more  or  less  of  that  opinion 
all  the  way  through,  and  were  only  waiting  till 
Jesus  should  see  fit  to  confirm  or  correct  their  view. 
If  this  be  so,  there  is  no  disagreement  even  in  em- 
phasis between  the  three  earlier  gospels  and  the 
fourth  on  this  difficult  subject.  The  Messiahship 
of  Jesus  may  have  been  tacitly  assumed  by  His  inti- 
mates from  the  first,  but  not  discussed  because  of 
His  reticence  in  regard  thereto.  He  had  now  ad- 
mitted that  they  were  right  in  their  assumption, 

315 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

that  was  all ;  but-  to  go  straight  on  with  the  declara- 
tion that  He  must  suffer  rejection  at  the  hands  of 
the  representatives  of  the  chosen  people  and  be  put 
to  a  shameful  death  was  an  amazing  anticlimax. 
How  could  the  two  things  be  fitted  together?  If 
He  were  the  JNIessiah,  how  could  He  perish;  if  He 
were  to  perish,  how  could  He  be  the  Messiah  ?  That 
this  was  the  dilemma  present  to  their  minds  is  shown 
by  Peter's  protest. 

Swiftly  and  sternly  the  Master  turned  upon  him. 
"Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  He  exclaimed;  "for 
thou  savorest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but 
the  things  that  be  of  men."  ^^  In  other  words, 
Peter's  previous  utterance  had  been  by  the  direct 
inspiration  of  God;  this  one  was  the  plea  of  mere 
worldly  wisdom.  The  rebuke  sounds  unnecessarily 
harsh  till  we  perceive  what  the  word  Satan  indi- 
cates. It  was,  indeed,  the  old  adversary  whom  He 
had  vanquished  in  the  wilderness  who  was  now 
tempting  Jesus  once  more  through  the  lips  of  His 
faithful  follower  bidding  Him  turn  aside  from  the 
somber  path  of  sacrifice  which  was  marked  out  for 
Him  to  tread.  And  the  vehemence  of  the  repudia- 
tion is  understandable  enough  if  we  recognize  that 
the  Master's  own  human  nature  shrank  from  the 
pain  and  sorrow  ahead  and  was  already  on  the  side 
of  Peter's  spontaneous  exhortation  to  spare  Him- 
self this  fearful  ordeal.  Here  we  enter  the  shadow 
of  a  mystery  which  deepens  till  Calvary  is  reached. 
We  do  not  know  what  it  means  any  more  than  did 
these  simple  Galileans.    All  that  is  plainly  stated  is 

15  Mark  vHi.  33. 

316 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

that  Jesus  now  knew,  may  have  known  from  the 
beginning,  of  His  pubhc  work,  and  chose  the  mo- 
ment to  impart  to  those  most  closely  associated  with 
Him,  the  dreadful  fact  that  He,  the  Messiah,  the 
chosen  of  God,  the  world's  deliverer,  must  pass 
through  shame  and  death  to  the  fulfillment  of  His 
mission  and  the  triumph  of  His  cause.  His  glor- 
ious advent  could  only  be  made  possible  by  His  pas- 
sion. 'No  explanation  is  offered:  the  bare  fact  is 
disclosed  and  we  are  left  to  ponder  it.  It  is  not  so 
very  wonderful  that  the  apostles  should  be  repre- 
sented as  failing  to  understand. 

It  is  in  this  connection  that  Mark  inserts  the 
saying  about  losing  the  life  to  find  it,  a  saying 
which  appears  in  several  different  settings  in  the 
gospels.  No  doubt  it  was  repeated  more  than  once, 
together  with  the  companion  saying  about  taking 
up  the  cross  and  following  after  Jesus.  Some  schol- 
ars have  thought  it  unlikely  that  Jesus  should  thus 
definitely  have  spoken  of  the  cross  before  He  Him- 
self came  to  it,  but  the  likelihood  is  all  the  other 
way.  The  melancholy  processions  of  condemned 
prisoners,  bearing  their  own  crosses  to  the  scene  of 
execution,  were  all  too  common  at  that  period 
under  the  Roman  occupation,  and  the  eyes  of  Jesus 
and  His  friends  may  have  compassionately  rested 
upon  them  on  occasion.  The  Master  could  hardly 
have  been  under  misapprehension  concerning  the 
nature  of  the  death  He  would  have  to  die  when  the 
time  came.  The  mystery  is  not  in  that,  but  in  the 
fact  that  He  should  have  had  to  die  at  all.  What 
the  inner  meaning  of  the  Passion  is  we  are  no  nearer 

317 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

understanding  to-day  than  were  the  humble  Gali- 
leans to  whom  Jesus  first  foretold  it;  nor  do  we 
know  why  it  was  the  indispensable  preliminary  to 
the  establishment  of  His  Kingdom.  If  we  did  know 
we  should  know  at  the  same  time  the  meaning  of 
all  the  world's  pain  and  sorrow. 

The  Transfiguration  and  Its   Sequel 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  transfiguration 
— which  Matthew  and  Mark  state  to  have  taken 
place  about  eight  days  after  the  events  at  Csesarea 
Philippi — Luke  says  eight — was  the  fulfillment  of 
the  prophecy  that  some  of  those  present  should  not 
taste  of  death  till  they  had  seen  the  Son  of  Man 
coming  in  His  Kingdom.  This  is  hardly  likely, 
however.  The  prophecy  would  have  taken  another 
form  had  its  fulfillment  been  so  near ;  there  was  no 
need  to  mention  death  in  such  a  connection;  and, 
moreover,  the  transfiguration  does  not  answer  to 
the  conception  of  the  glorious  advent  of  the  Son 
of  Man  as  present  to  the  minds  of  His  hearers. 
The  Messianic  advent,  as  we  have  seen,  had  a  fairly 
well-defined  significance  to  our  Lord's  Jewish  con- 
temporaries ;  at  the  very  least,  it  could  only  be  held 
to  mean  an  event  from  which  human  history  would 
make  a  fresh  beginning, 

Neither  is  it  warrantable  to  conclude  with  ex- 
treme critics  of  the  gospel  sources  that  this  is  an 
instance  in  which  Jesus  or  His  reporters,  or  both, 
were  mistaken  in  their  outlook  upon  the  future.    If 

318 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY, 

the  Master  really  did  expect  the  wind-up  of  the 
existing  dispensation  and  His  now  triumphal  re- 
turn to  take  place  within  the  lifetime  of  some  of 
the  members  of  the  little  company  then  listening  to 
Him,  it  is  plain  that  He  was  deluded,  tragically  so ; 
and  in  that  case  His  authority  would  have  counted 
for  little  with  His  disillusioned  followers  in  after 
days.  It  seems  strange  that  more  allowance  should 
not  have  been  made  for  this  by  upholders  of  the 
theory  that  Jesus  built  all  His  hopes  upon  a  speedy 
second  coming  and  drastic  reconstitution  of  human 
society  with  Himself  as  Messianic  king.  If  it  were 
so,  then  the  confidence  of  the  primitive  Church  in 
Him  would  be  inexplicable.  Nowhere  is  it  either 
stated  or  hinted  in  the  New  Testament  that  He 
held  out  expectations  to  His  adherents  which  were 
not  fulfilled.  These  very  words  were  not  recorded 
until  many  years  after  they  were  spoken,  and  no 
suggestion  is  offered  by  the  evangelists  that  they 
were  considered  to  be  either  mysterious  or  disap- 
pointing in  their  effect.  Wliat  then  do  they  mean? 
The  most  reasonable  explanation  of  them  is  that 
they  are  an  allusion  to  the  spiritual  second  coming 
— a  true  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  His  King- 
dom— which  ensued  at  Pentecost,  following  upon 
the  passion  and  resurrection.  It  was  the  beginning 
of  a  new  era,  the  end  of  one  age  and  the  opening  of 
another,  the  dividing  line  between  ancient  and  mod- 
ern civilization,  between  paganism  and  Christian- 
ity with  all  that  the  distinction  between  those  two 
has  since  signified  to  the  destinies  of  the  human 

319 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

race.^^  That  Jesus  should  have  known  this  is  almost 
more  impressive  than  that  He  should  have  foreseen 
the  tragical  ending  to  His  own  present  ministry. 
There  is  no  other  example  in  history  of  a  master  of 
men  being  convinced  that  he  would  be  more  truly 
present  with  his  followers  after  his  departure  from 
earth  than  before,  and  surely  there  is  no  more  con- 
vincing evidence  of  the  unique  greatness  of  Jesus 
than  that  He  should  have  calmly  and  confidently 
affirmed  this  of  Himself  in  relation  to  the  ideal  for 
which  He  stood  and  the  work  He  had  come  to  do. 
But,  although  the  transfiguration  cannot  rightly 
be  regarded  as  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  re- 
lating to  the  glorious  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man, 
it  certainly  has  a  bearing  upon  it.  The  incidents  of 
this  short  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cgesarea 
Philippi  are  all  linked  together.  The  A^eil  is  now 
lifted  slightly  and  the  Master's  intimates  are  shown 
a  little  of  the  close  touch  which  He  constantly  main- 
tained with  the  transcendental  world.  Only  Peter, 
James,  and  John  were  privileged  to  see  it.  The 
evangelist's  record  tells  us  that  Jesus  took  them  up 
into  a  high  mountain  apart  by  themselves — tradi- 
tion says  Mount  Hermon,  some  distance  to  the 
nortli  of  Cassarea  Philippi — and  that  there  some- 
thing happened,  the  like  of  which  they  had  never 
witnessed  before.  A  great  and  supernatural  change 
passed  over  His  customary  appearance.  Matthew 
says  His  face  shone  as  the  sun;  Mark  adds  the 

^^H.  J.  Holtzmann :  Synoptic  Gospels,  p.  409,  distinguishes  three 
several  second  advents,  one  at  the  end  of  the  world,  one  at  any 
great  historical  crisis  or  period  of  fresh  beginnings,  and  one  in  the 
hearts  of  believers. 

330 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

striking  detail  that  "His  raiment  became  shining, 
exceeding  white  as  snow:  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth 
can  white  them";''  Luke  has  it  that  as  He  was 
praying  "the  fashion  of  his  countenance  was  al- 
tered, and  his  raiment  was  white  and  glistening."  '^ 
The  synoptics  differ  in  their  phrasing  while  agree- 
ing upon  the  facts.  It  would  seem  that  in  this  in- 
stance, at  any  rate,  they  draw  severally  upon  a 
definite  and  uniform  oral  tradition  concerning  a 
phenomenon  which  had  deeply  impressed  the  imagi- 
nation of  the  apostolic  circle.  Each  of  the  evan- 
gelists contributes  some  vivid  particular  to  the  de- 
scription of  a  scene  which  bears  every  mark  of  being 
authentic. 

Here  again  psychical  research  comes  to  our  aid. 
The  statement  that  the  three  disciples  were  heavy 
with  sleep  is  accordant  with  what  we  now  know  of 
certain  supernormal  phenomena  of  a  psychical 
character;  it  suggests  a  trance  condition,  a  condi- 
tion in  which  superphysical  vision  is  made  tempor- 
arily possible.  All  the  rest  of  the  description  fits 
in  with  this  hypothesis.  Two  supernatural  beings 
appear  upon  the  scene,  conversing  with  Jesus. 
These  are  said  to  have  been  Moses  and  Elias,  but 
we  are  not  told  how  Peter  and  his  companions  knew 
this.  Once  again  comes  the  Voice  which  is  said  to 
have  been  heard  at  special  crises  in  the  Master's 
brief  career:  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased."  "  A  dazzling  radiance  surrounds 
Jesus  and  the  heavenly  visitors,  and  a  bright  cloud 

1^  Matt.  xvii.  2 ;  Mark  ix.  3. 

18  Luke  ix.  29. 

19  Matt.  xvii.  5. 

321 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

overhangs  the  entire  assembly.  Luke  says  that  Jesu  5 
and  the  two  super-earthly  beings  who  were  thus  re- 
vealed held  conversation:  "they  spake  of  His  de- 
cease which  He  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem."  "° 
The  three  watching  Galileans  were  in  great  fear  as 
was  not  unnatural ;  they  felt  themselves  to  be  trans- 
ported into  the  midst  of  awe-inspiring  verities. 
Peter,  as  usual,  burst  forth  into  unconsidered 
speech,  offering  to  erect  three  booths  for  Jesus, 
Moses,  and  Eli  as,  respectively — his  own  later  ver- 
sion of  the  occurrence,  as  given  by  Mark,  being  that 
he  did  not  know  what  he  was  saying.  The  three  of 
them  trembling  fell  down  on  their  faces,  and,  Mat- 
thew says,  Jesus  walked  over  to  them  and  touched 
them,  bidding  them  not  to  be  afraid.  This  sympa- 
thetic consideration  for  the  human  susceptibilities  of 
those  about  Him  is  one  of  Jesus'  chief  characteris- 
tics, as  is  illustrated  frequently  in  the  gospel  nar- 
rative. 

Lifting  up  their  heads,  they  found  that  the  vision 
had  passed  and  that  Jesus  only  stood  beside  them, 
looking  just  as  they  were  accustomed  to  see  Him 
from  day  to  day.  Coming  down  from  the  moun- 
tain He  charged  them  not  to  say  anything  about 
what  they  had  seen  until  He  was  risen  from  the 
dead.  Luke  says  they  "kept  it  close"  in  conse- 
quence, but  often  wondered  what  the  rising  from 
the  dead  would  mean.  They  had  never  been  taught 
to  expect  that  the  Messianic  Son  of  Man  would 
have  to  pass  through  death  to  reach  His  throne. 
The  first  evangelist  continues  that  they  questioned 

20  Luke  ix.  31. 

322 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

Jesus  on  the  point.  "Why  then  say  the  scribes 
that  Ehas  must  first  come?" — that  is,  as  the  herald 
©f  the  Messiah.  In  reply  Jesus  definitely  told  them 
that  John  the  Baptist  had  filled  this  office,  and  that 
John  the  Baptist's  fate  must  be  shared  by  the  Mes- 
siah Himself. 

It  cannot  be  too  frankly  stated  and  admitted  that 
all  tliese  supernatural  occurrences — clairvoyance, 
clairaudience,  photism,  the  white  cloud,  levitation — 
are  quite  credible  from  what  we  know  of  lesser  be- 
ings. They  are  well  attested  facts,  as  any  one  can 
discover  for  himself  who  takes  the  necessary  trouble 
to  follow  up  the  subject.  That  three  Gahlean  fish- 
ermen, utterly  ignorant  of  the  results  of  modern 
scientific  inquiry  into  suchlike  happenings,  should 
have  told  their  story  in  such  a  way  as  to  accord  fully 
with  what  we  now  know  of  psychical  phenomena  is 
the  best  testimony  to  its  genuineness.  The  very 
artlessness  of  their  witness  has  its  value  from  this 
point  of  view.  All  that  they  thus  say  with  the  sim- 
plicity of  a  child  describing  a  unique  experience 
without  attempting  to  explain  it,  is  strikingly  true 
to  what  trained  observers  have  long  been  accus- 
tomed to  note  and  classify  concerning  certain 
supernormal  states  of  consciousness.  The  transfig- 
uration, or  something  very  like  it,  has  been  affirmed 
of  others  than  Jesus  in  the  centuries  intervening 
between  that  day  and  this.  That  the  Master  ad- 
mitted Peter,  James,  and  John  to  the  privilege  of 
witnessing  it  in  this  instance  was  no  doubt  to  im- 
press upon  them  the  outstanding  importance  of 
the  double  disclosure  made  at  Caesarea  Philippi  and 

323 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

the  new  departure  it  betokened.  They  now  knew 
Him  as  a  supernatural  being,  one  not  of  earth,  but 
of  heaven,  though  sharing  human  nature  and  wear- 
ing human  flesh;  they  knew  He  was  the  Messiah 
who  had  yet  to  be  revealed  in  glory,  and  they  had 
now  glimpsed  that  glory ;  and  they  also  knew,  mys- 
terious and  baffling  though  the  announcement  were, 
that  the  full  manifestation  of  that  glory  was  some- 
how bound  up  with  His  coming  submission  to  shame 
and  death.  Henceforth  His  face  was  turned  to- 
wards the  cross,  and  they  could  but  wait  to  see  what 
this  awe-inspiring  revelation  portended. 

From  this  point  the  narrative  runs  very  clearly 
for  some  distance.  We  learn  that  while  Jesus  with 
Peter  and  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee  had  been  absent 
on  the  summit  of  Hermon  or  wherever  the  trans- 
figuration took  place,  the  rest  of  the  apostolic  band 
and  those  who  journej^ed  with  them  remained  on 
the  j^lain  at  the  foot.  When  He  came  down  He 
saw  that  a  great  multitude  had  assembled  round 
them  and  that  a  company  of  the  scribes  was  busily 
engaged  in  interrogating  them,  presumabl}''  in  a 
hostile  spirit.  Luke  says  this  was  on  the  next  day 
after  the  vision,  so  apparently  the  Master  and  His 
three  principal  apostles  spent  some  time  together 
conversing  on  what  had  happened  before  return- 
ing to  those  they  had  left.  No  sooner  did  the  crowd 
catch  sight  of  Him  than  they  rushed  towards  Him 
greatly  excited  and  began  tumultuously  to  tell 
Him  what  had  been  going  on.  Jesus  turned  quietly 
to  the  scribes  and  asked  what  they  were  questioning 
His  disciples  about — a  further  example  of  the  way 

3S4 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

in  which  He  is  repeatedly  represented  as  standing 
between  His  friends  and  possible  danger,  the  most 
striking  instance  of  this  being,  as  we  shall  see,  at  the 
very  moment  when  He  Himself  was  about  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  His  foes. 

The  story  is  a  very  human  one.  Before  these 
local  doctors  of  the  Law  could  answer,  one  of  the 
multitude,  falling  down  on  his  knees,  broke  out  into 
supplication.  Hearing  that  Jesus  was  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, he  had  brought  his  lunatic  son  to  Him  in 
the  hope  of  a  cure,  and  not  finding  Him  had  en- 
treated the  disciples  to  see  if  they  could  effect  it, 
but  in  vain.  Even  while  the  afflicted  father  spoke, 
the  boy  fell  into  a  paroxysm  at  Jesus'  very  feet. 
Mark's  graphic  description  causes  the  scene  to  pass 
vividly  before  us.  For  a  moment  the  Master  stood 
gravely  regarding  the  sufferer  and  then,  turning  to 
the  father,  inquired,  "How  long  ago  is  it  since  this 
came  to  him?"  "Of  a  child,"  was  the  reply,  fol- 
lowed by  a  painful  summarj^  of  long  years  of  bitter, 
hopeless  sorrow  and  grief.  "If  thou  canst  do  any- 
thing," he  cried  in  conclusion,  "have  compassion  on 
us  and  help  us."  "If  thou  canst!"  was  the  swift 
rejoinder.  "All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  be- 
lieveth;"  whereupon  the  father  instantly  cried  out 
with  tears,  "Lord,  I  believe;  help  thou  mine  unbe- 
lief." '^  Jesus  paused  no  longer  but,  seeing  the 
crowd  rapidly  increasing  from  all  directions — a 
development  He  had  no  wish  to  encourage  at  that 
particular    juncture — He    expelled    the    unclean 

21  Mark  ix.  23,  24. 

325 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

spirit  from  its  victim  and  lifting  the  child  up  placed 
him  in  his  father's  arms. 

It  must  have  been  difficult  to  get  away  from  the 
crowd  after  this,  and  how  it  was  done  is  not  stated. 
The  text  would  almost  suggest  that  Jesus  and  His 
disciples  went  for  a  little  while  into  the  house  of  the 
family  to  which  father  and  son  belonged,  for  we 
are  now  told  that  "when  He  was  come  into 
the  house.  His  disciples  asked  Him  privately. 
Why  could  not  we  cast  him  out?"  INIatthew 
says  they  came  to  Jesus  apart  and  put  their  ques- 
tion, but  there  is  no  necessary  discrepancy  between 
his  account  and  Mark's;  it  is  he  who  supplies  us 
with  the  discourse  which  follows,  given  to  them 
alone,  and  of  which  we  may  reasonably  suppose 
Matthew  to  have  been  an  actual  hearer,  concern- 
ing the  power  of  faith  to  remove  mountains,  which 
is  surely  true.  The  same  figure  of  speech  appears 
in  other  connections  as  would  be  likely  enough. 

Leaving  this  abode,  they  continued  their  way 
southward,  Jesus  explaining  to  His  disciples  en 
route  that  though  they  must  pass  through  Galilee 
He  did  not  wish  the  public  to  know  it,  and  then  for 
the  second  time  He  declared  to  them,  almost  in  the 
same  words  as  at  Cfesarea  Philippi,  that  the  end 
of  His  ministry  was  approaching  and  that  it  would 
be  a  tragic  one  to  be  followed  by  resurrection. 
Again  we  are  told  that  they  were  unable  to  under- 
stand the  saying  and  were  afraid  to  ask  what  it 
meant.  The  intimation  is  so  worded  in  this  case  as 
to  suggest  that  Jesus  now  regarded  it  as  unsafe  for 
Him  to  make  any  more  public  appearances  in  Gali- 

326 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY] 

lee.  His  life  was  threatened  there  as  well  as  in  the 
south,  and  if  He  were  to  die  He  intended  that  it 
should  be  in  the  capital.  As  He  remarked  with  sad 
irony,  "It  cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish  out  of 
Jerusalem."  ^^  The  wording  of  St.  Matthew's  ver- 
sion suggests  that  He  went  to  and  fro  for  some 
time  between  Galilee  and  the  heatHen  lands  to  the 
northwest.  It  is  in  this  connection  also  that  Mark 
and  Luke  tell  of  the  strife  among  the  apostles  on 
the  question  who  should  be  the  greatest.  Notwith- 
standing the  impressive  announcement  of  the  com- 
ing Passion  to  which  they  had  just  listened,  and 
which  the  first  evangelist  says  had  made  them  "ex- 
ceeding sorry,"  they  began  to  strive  among  each 
other  for  precedence  while  they  were  yet  on  the 
road.  They  had  failed  to  grasp  the  significance  of 
this  secret  journey,  for  such  it  was.  From  Mark's 
account,  the  inference  is  that  Jesus  was  walking 
some  distance  apart  from  His  friends,  wrapped  in 
Plis  own  thoughts ;  they  may  have  dropped  behind 
a  little  and  were  vigorously  disputing  among  them- 
selves in  low  tones,  thinking  that  He  did  not  hear. 
Their  awe  of  Him  is  evident  in  that  they  abstained 
from  wrangling  in  His  presence.  He  gave  no  sign 
that  He  had  noticed  anything  amiss  until  they  had 
reached  His  old  quarters  in  Capernaum  where  He 
startled  and  confused  them  by  abruptly  asking, 
"What  was  it  that  ye  disputed  among  yourselves 
by  the  way?"^^  As  they  preserved  a  somewhat 
shamefaced  silence  He  sat  down  and  called  them 

22  Luke  xiii.  33.  23  Mark  ix.  33. 

327 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

round  Him — such  is  the  force  of  the  language  em- 
ployed to  describe  the  scene — and  taking  a  little 
child  on  His  knees  taught  them  the  much  needed 
lesson  that  precedence  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  was 
accorded  to  the  qualities  of  humility,  simplicity,  un- 
pretentiousness,  and  willingness  to  love  and  serve. 
If  we  were  not  now  so  accustomed  to  this  view  of 
the  nature  of  moral  excellence — little  though  we 
conform  to  it — its  striking  originality  and  beauty, 
indeed  uniqueness  in  either  the  ancient  or  the  mod- 
ern world,  would  be  evident  at  a  glance.  It  was 
Jesus  who  first  taught  the  world  to  see  the  charm 
and  sweetness  of  child  life,  as  it  was  Jesus  who  first 
among  religious  teachers  insisted  on  the  high  re- 
spect due  to  womanhood.  Whether  it  was  now  or 
later  that  the  touching  episode  occurred  of  His  re- 
ception of  the  little  children  who  were  brought  to 
Him  by  their  mothers  and  whom  the  disciples  would 
have  driven  awaj'-  is  not  ascertainable.  According 
to  Matthew  the  incident  in  question  took  place,  not 
in  Galilee,  but  in  the  parts  of  Judea  beyond  Jor- 
dan, which  in  the  circumstances  is  more  probable 
as  it  was  a  public  event. 

There  is  a  flash  of  affectionate  humor  in  the  story 
which  Matthew  relates  in  conjunction  with  this  pri- 
vate visit  to  Capernaum,  of  a  conversation  between 
Jesus  and  Peter  relative  to  the  tribute  money  due 
from  both  for  Temple  expenses.  What  followed 
• — the  obtaining  of  a  stater  from  a  fish's  mouth — 
may  not  have  been  a  miracle;  it  is  not  recorded 
elsewhere  and  is  on  quite  a  different  footing  from 
the  works  of  benevolence  of  a  mu-aculous  character 

328 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRYi 

which  all  the  evangelists  attribute  to  the  Master.  It 
may  only  have  been  a  playful  way  of  saying  that 
as  neither  He  nor  Peter  had  any  money  He  would 
have  to  rely  on  the  apostle  to  go  and  catch  enough 
fish  to  sell  and  discharge  the  obligations  for  both. 
This,  at  least,  seems  a  reasonable  way  of  interpret- 
ing the  incident,  which  is  not  without  spiritual  sug- 
gestiveness  on  other  grounds. 

In  this  same  connection  also — perhaps  on  the 
same  occasion  as  the  rebuke  administered  to  the 
warring  little  company  after  the  unnoted  return 
to  the  Master's  house  at  Capernaum — a  further 
conversation  took  place  which  incidentally  throws 
some  light  on  the  fiery  and  impulsive  character  of 
the  sons  of  Zebedee.  They  state  that  they  had  seen 
a  man  casting  out  devils  in  their  Master's  name  and 
that  they  had  forbidden  him  because  he  was  not  of 
their  company.  In  gently  deprecating  this  ready 
intolerance  Jesus  added:  "He  that  is  not  against 
us  is  on  our  part"  "* — a  saying  antithetic  to  that 
elsewhere  preserved:  "He  that  is  not  with  me  is 
against  me."  "^  There  is  no  contradiction  between 
the  two.  In  the  one  case  a  man  was  casting  out 
devils  in  Jesus'  name  because  he  believed  in  the 
power  of  that  name ;  in  the  other  the  malignant  op- 
ponents of  Jesus  were  declaring  that  He  cast  out 
devils  by  the  power  of  the  prince  of  the  devils. 
There  was  all  the  difference  in  the  v/orld  between 
the  two  situations. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  doubt  about  the  meaning 

24  Mark  ix.  40. 

25  Matt.  xii.  30 ;  Luke  xi.  23. 

339 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

of  the  name  Boanerges,^*  but  perhaps  the  interpre- 
tation "sons  of  thunder"  does  convey  something  of 
the  impression  made  by  these  two  men  upon  their 
associates.  That  they  were  ambitious  to  a  degree 
and  somewhat  explosive  in  temper  is  more  than 
hinted  at  by  what  is  narrated  of  them  in  the  gospels 
and  also  by  the  witness  of  tradition.  That  these 
qualities  should  have  gone  along  with  other  and 
more  admirable  ones  is  not  psychologically  impos- 
sible; they  are  consistent  with  whole-hearted  devo- 
tion to  the  person  of  the  Master,  as,  indeed,  is  indi- 
cated by  the  very  form  in  which  this  confession  was 
made ;  it  was  because  they  conceived  that  an  indig- 
nity was  being  done  to  Jesus  in  the  illegitimate  use 
of  His  name  that  they  had  interfered.  A  nature 
essentially  lovable  and  sweet  could  exhibit  these 
same  traits,  and  it  is  evident  that  Jesus  regarded 
John  with  the  affection  of  an  elder  for  a  younger 
brother.  That  the  son  of  thunder  should  after- 
wards have  become  the  apostle  of  love  was  one  fruit 
of  this  association. 

No  doubt  it  is  because  of  the  mention  of  James 
and  John  at  this  point  that  Luke  here  inserts  the 
further  story  of  their  wish  to  call  down  fire  from 
heaven  to  consume  the  Pharisees  who  would  have 
hindered  Him  from  proceeding  to  Jerusalem. 
How  Jesus  and  His  inner  circle  of  disciples  man- 
aged to  get  in  and  out  of  Capernaum  and  along 
the  shores  of  the  sea  of  Galilee  without  public  no- 
tice being  taken  of  Him  on  this  occasion  must  re- 
main a  mystery.    The  news  of  His  presence  in  the 

26  But  vide  Rendel  Harris :  Boanerges  for  another  interpretation. 

330 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY; 

neighborhood  would  have  caused  the  greatest  ex- 
citement had  it  become  kno\^Ti,  but  apparently  it 
did  not  and  He  and  His  friends  were  careful  that 
it  should  not.  He  did  not  stay  long;  as  Luke  says, 
"He  steadfastly  set  His  face  to  go  to  Jerusalem" ;  " 
He  was  moving  calmly  and  deliberately  towards 
the  final  consummation,  and  would  not  wish  to  de- 
lay in  Galilee  any  longer  than  He  could  help.  If 
this  house  in  Galilee  were  His  own,  as  seems  not 
improbable,  this  was  His  farewell  to  it;  He  per- 
haps left  His  mother  therein  with  the  thought  in 
His  heart  that  she,  too,  would  have  to  find  some 
other  shelter  ere  long.  How  Jesus  had  maintained 
this  home  up  to  the  present  we  do  not  know  and 
there  is  no  means  of  finding  out.  It  may  have 
been,  as,  in  fact,  seems  most  likely,  that  some  per- 
sons of  substance  attached  themselves  to  Him  dur- 
ing His  public  ministry  and  contributed  to  His 
maintenance  and  that  of  His  little  band  of  follow- 
ers. We  are  expressly  told  by  St.  Luke  that  there 
were  some  women  of  rank  among  these,  and  there 
would  be  nothing  undignified  on  His  part  in  accept- 
ing such  help.  Other  public  teachers  did  the  same, 
and  do  still  in  the  East,  as  is  illustrated  by  the  re- 
markable Bahai  movement  of  our  own  day. 

Events  in  the  South 

The  several  narratives  of  this  progress  towards 
Jerusalem  are  full  of  unsolved  problems.  The  pil- 
grims need  not  have  gone  through  Samaria  to  get 

2T  Luke  ix.  51. 

331 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

into  the  region  beyond  Jordan  where  we  next  hear 
of  the  Master  exercising  a  teaching  and  heahng 
ministry;  but  the  information  furnished  is  too 
meager  to  enable  us  to  form  a  very  clear  idea  of 
the  course  actually  followed.  There  is  nothing  like 
the  continuous  residence  anywhere  which  Jesus  had 
hitherto  maintained  in  Capernaum ;  He  has  now  no 
fixed  abode,  but  moves  from  place  to  place  without 
any  plan  or  purpose  which  can  be  traced.  Perhaps 
the  journey  from  Galilee  in  the  first  instance  was 
undertaken  in  order  to  be  present  in  Jerusalem  at 
the  feast  of  Tabernacles.  This  is  the  simplest  ex- 
planation of  His  movements.  The  feast  of  Taber- 
nacles fell  in  September  after  the  Day  of  Atone- 
ment so  that  there  would  still  be  six  months  or  more 
before  the  feast  of  the  Passover,  at  which  Jesus  was 
arrested.  The  best  and  most  convenient  route  from 
Galilee  to  Jerusalem,  of  course,  lay  through  Sa- 
maria, but  pilgrims  going  up  to  the  feasts  were 
charj^  of  taking  it  because  of  the  hostility  of  the 
Samaritan  people  to  Jewish  religion.  These  did 
their  utmost  to  put  hindrances  in  the  way  of  any 
who  might  be  thought  to  be  going  up  to  worship 
at  Jerusalem;  pilgrims  were  frequently  maltreated 
by  them  and  sometimes  killed.  On  the  occasion  here 
referred  to  Jesus  and  His  friends  approached  a 
Samaritan  village,  seeking  accommodation  for  the 
night,  but  it  was  discourteously  refused  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  obviously  proceeding  to 
Jerusalem  for  the  feast  of  Tabernacles.  St.  Luke's 
restrained  narrative  gives  the  barest  description  of 
the  manner  in  which  this  refusal  was  conveyed,  but 

332 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

we  can  well  imagine  that  it  would  be  with  fanatical 
insult  and  contumely.  It  was  not  hostility  to  Jesus 
personally  that  dictated  this  action  on  the  part  of 
the  inhabitants  of  this  unnamed  village;  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  they  knew  nothing  of  His  iden- 
tity ;  they  were  influenced  solely  by  religious  bigo- 
try and  race  prejudice.  Filled  with  anger  at  this 
churlish  conduct,  James  and  John,  in  keeping  with 
the  temper  already  manifested  in  the  instance  cited 
above,  would  have  had  their  Master  call  down  fire 
from  heaven  and  destroy  the  offenders.  "Ye  know 
not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of"  was  the  grave 
rebuke;  "for  the  Son  of  Man  is  not  come  to  destroy 
men's  lives  but  to  save  them."  "^  The  evangelist 
adds  that  they  went  to  another  village  where,  judg- 
ing from  the  absence  of  any  statement  to  the  con- 
trary in  the  record,  they  were  differently  received. 
It  is  here,  too,  that  Luke  gives  the  episode  of  the 
would-be  adherent  who  enthusiastically  declared, 
"Lord  (or  Master),  I  will  follow  thee  whitherso- 
ever thou  goest,"  "^  and  to  whom  Jesus  returned  the 
pathetic  answer  already  noted.  Matthew,  with 
more  verisimilitude,  places  this  at  a  much  earlier 
stage  of  the  ministry,  namely,  soon  after  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount.  The  companion  incident  of  the 
disciple  who  asked  to  be  allowed  to  go  and  bury  his 
father  before  giving  up  all  to  follow  the  Master  is 
also  recorded  by  both  the  first  and  third  evangelists, 
but  is  more  in  place  in  the  former  than  the  latter 
gospel.  It  appears  in  that  portion  of  St.  Luke 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  mainly  derived  from  some 

28/&iU  55,  56.  ^^Ibid.  57. 

333 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

special  source  and  inserted  abruptly  at  this  point 
without  apparent  regard  for  chronological  se- 
quence. In  Luke's  version  an  important  turn  is 
given  to  the  story  by  the  statement  that  it  was  the 
Master  who  first  asked  this  disciple  to  follow  Him 
and  not  the  disciple  who  spontaneously  proffered 
to  do  so.  Here  then  we  have  an  instance  of  a  man 
who  had  an  opportunity  of  becoming  an  apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  rejected  the  privilege.  Or  did 
he  reject  it?  Perhaps  not ;  it  is  not  so  stated.  "Fol- 
low me,"  was  the  Master's  uncompromising  com- 
ment, "and  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead."  '°  The 
seeming  harshness  of  this  utterance  disappears 
when  we  realize  that  the  whole  point,  both  of  the  ex- 
cuse and  the  reply  it  elicited,  was  that  this  man's 
father  was  not  dead.  The  son's  observation  meant 
that  he  wanted  to  remain  at  home  as  long  as  his 
father  was  alive  in  order  to  make  sure  of  his  share 
of  the  inheritance,  but  this  Jesus  would  not  toler- 
ate ;  it  was  too  much  of  the  earth  earthy.  "No  man, 
having  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,"  He  declared, 
"and  looking  back,  is  fit  for  the  Kingdom  of  God.'* 
It  is  on  this  great  southward  journey  again,  ac- 
cording to  St.  Mark,  that  the  impressive  meeting 
with  the  rich  young  ruler  occurs.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  memorable  in  the  entire  evan- 
gelistic record,  and  one  of  the  best  attested,  for 
with  unimportant  variations  it  appears  in  detail  in 
all  three  of  the  synoptical  gospels  and  serves  as  the 
introduction  to  a  special  discourse  on  riches  and  also 
on  spiritual  rewards  which  is  of  the  greatest  value. 

30  Luke  ix.  60. 

834 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY, 

Tradition  has  had  much  to  say  about  the  personal- 
ity of  this  young  man.     Some  have  identified  him 
with  Lazarus,  but  for  that  there  is  httle  warrant, 
seeing  that  by  this  time,  if  Mark's  order  be  rehable, 
the  friendship  with  the  family  at  Bethany  must  have 
been  well  established,  whereas  the  rich  young  ruler 
in  question  is  evidently  not  personally  known  to  the 
Master.    If  he  really  were  Lazarus,  then  it  is  grati- 
fying to  think  that  there  was  another  and  later 
chapter  to  this  story.     What  is  chiefly  remarkable 
about  it,  as  given  here,  is  that  it  is  the  only  instance 
in  the  gospels  in  which  it  is  definitely  stated  that 
Jesus  smiled ;  for  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  beauti- 
ful expression  of  St.  Mark,  "Jesus,  beholding  him, 
loved  him."  "     In  other  words.  He  tenderly  smiled 
upon  the  young  man,  while  at  the  same  moment 
making  the  hardest  demand  upon  him  that  could 
possibly  have  been  made  just  then.     There  must 
have  been  something  ingenuous  and  attractive  about 
one  born  to  high  estate  who  could  thus  humbly  kneel 
down  on  the  road  before  a  wandering  preacher  and 
ask  to  be  shown  how  to  inherit  eternal  life.     The 
phrase  "eternal  life"  is  noteworthy  as  suggestive 
of  the  fourth  gospel  rather  than  the  others,  and 
shows  that  it  was  in  use  concurrently  with  "King- 
dom of  God"  to  signify  the  supreme  good.     Per- 
haps it  was  more  of  the  south  than  of  the  north 
where  the  Kingdom  was  more  commonly  spoken 
of,  but  both  were  much  on  the  lips  of  those  whom 
Jesus  addressed  throughout  Palestine. 

Considerable  attention  has  been  directed  to  Jesus' 

81  Mark  x.  21. 

335 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

repudiation  of  the  title  "good  Master"  on  this  oc- 
sion.  "Why  callest  thou  me  good?"  He  de- 
manded; "there  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is,  God." 
Elaborate  critical  theories  have  been  built  upon  it 
but  in  the  present  writer's  belief  most  of  them  are 
based  upon  a  misconception.  The  conventional 
compliment  was  unthinkingly  paid  in  this  instance 
as  it  might  have  been  in  a  hundred  others.  The 
young  man  would  have  addressed  almost  any  rabbi 
in  the  same  way.  Jesus  wanted  no  such  lip  service 
and,  therefore,  deprecated  the  idle  use  of  an  epithet 
which  should  have  been  reserved  for  God  or  only 
for  His  servants  as  deriving  from  Him  any  good- 
ness they  might  possess. 

Why  did  Jesus  tell  this  young  man  to  sell  all  his 
goods  and  give  them  to  the  poor?  It  is  clear  that 
He  did  not  make  the  same  drastic  demand  of  all 
those  with  whom  He  was  on  terms  of  friendship. 
Was  it  not  in  order  to  demonstrate  to  the  ques- 
tioner the  unreality  of  his  professions?  It  was  as 
though  to  say :  You  claim  to  have  kept  all  the  com- 
mandments, to  love  God  and  your  neighbor,  neither 
to  steal  nor  to  defraud  any,  and  yet  here  before  your 
eyes  every  day  are  people  suffering  from  want  and 
misery,  and  you  hug  your  wealth  and  do  nothing  to 
help  them.^'  Jesus  struck  hard  at  this  young  man's 
weakest  spot,  his  love  of  riches.  He  was  not  pre- 
pared for  a  sacrifice  so  complete  as  was  thus  re- 
quired of  him,  and  went  away  sorrowful. 

The  sequel  to  this  parable  is  equally  remarkable 
in  its  way.    Jesus,  gazing  with  commiseration  and 

82  Ui  sup.,  p.  94,  Gospel  According  to  the  Hebrews. 

336 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

something  of  sadness  in  His  own  demeanor,  after 
the  retreating  form  of  one  who  had  come  so  near  to 
the  heavenly  Kingdom  and  yet  rejected  it,  began 
to  discourse  gravely  on  the  spiritually  disabling  ef- 
fect of  great  worldly  possessions.     This  seems  to 
have  caused  much  astonishment  among  His  hear- 
ers, for  Mark  makes  the  illmninating  observation 
twice  over  that  they  were  amazed,   even  beyond 
measure,  at  the  Master's  words.     Clearly  it  had 
never  occurred  to  them  before  that  the  possession  of 
wealth  should  be  regarded  as  a  hindrance  to  mem- 
bership in  the  Messianic  Kingdom  when  it  came. 
Why  should  it  ?  they  thought ;  surely  it  ought  to  be 
an  advantage  rather  than  the  contrarj^;  and  would 
not  entrance  into  the  Kingdom  carry  with  it  the 
acquirement   of   an   abundance   of   all   the   things 
usually  counted  necessary  to  complete  a  happy  life, 
and  would  not  that  mean  wealth?     They  had  not 
yet  begun  to  shake  off  their  preconceptions  of  the 
material  nature  of  the  Kingdom;  they  thought  of 
it  as  a  good  time  coming  here  on  earth,  much  as 
Irish  peasants  talked  of  Home  Rule  years  ago  as 
in  some  magical  way  to  supply  every  Irishman  with 
an  abundance  of  gold  without  much  need  for  work. 
The  apostles  were  not  materialists  or  Jesus  would 
never  have  chosen  them  to  witness  for  Him  in  the 
world;  He  chose  them  because  of  their  moral  ear- 
nestness and  spiritual  susceptibility;  but  they  were 
as  limited  as  their  contemporaries  in  their  ideas  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God.    If  it  was  to  be  a  Kingdom 
of  righteousness  it  was  to  them  to  be  also  a  King- 
dom of  plenty;  it  was  to  be  a  restored  Kingdom  of 

337 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Israel.  Hence  the  force  of  Peter's  question  whicli 
immediately  followed:  "Behold  we  have  forsaken 
all,  and  followed  thee;  what  shall  we  have  there- 
fore ?"  ^^  If  riches  were  not  to  count  in  the  new 
Kingdom,  what  sort  of  gain  would  be  theirs  who 
had  adhered  to  the  Messiah  long  ere  the  world  knew 
Him  as  such?  Peter  honestly  thought,  and  so  did 
the  rest,  that  they  merited  some  special  reward  from 
Jesus  for  having  espoused  His  cause  thus  early. 
Would  they  not  be  persons  of  special  importance 
and  consideration  in  the  new  order? 

The  reply  is  quite  surprising.  Instead  of  cor- 
recting Peter's  crude  expectation  He  seems  to  en- 
dorse it.  In  the  very  same  breath  as  the  drastic  de- 
mand which  He  had  made  upon  the  rich  young 
ruler  to  strip  himself  bare  of  everything  He  tells 
this  humble  Galilean  peasant  that  riches  and  splen- 
dor await  him  as  the  reward  of  his  fidelity.  "Verily 
I  say  unto  you.  That  ye  which  have  followed  me, 
in  the  regeneration  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit 
on  the  throne  of  His  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon 
twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 
And  every  one  that  has  forsaken  houses,  or 
brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife, 
or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake,  shall  re- 
ceive an  hundredfold,  and  shall  inherit  everlasting 
life."  ^* 

We  can  imagine  the  half-smile,  at  once  gracious 
and  baffling  with  which  Jesus  would  accompany  this 
mysterious  utterance.  There  was  grave  humor  in 
it.     He  knew  He  was  bewildering  these  simple- 

33  Matt.  xix.  27.  ^*  Matt.  xix.  38,  39. 

338 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY- 

minded  auditors;  but  the  time  would  come  when 
they  would  understand.     And  the  time  did  come 
when  this  prophecy  was  seen  to  be  literally  true, 
only  by  that  time  their  whole  outlook  had  changed. 
The  time  came  when,  careless  of  all  earthly  pos- 
session, taking  every  risk  for  the  sake  of  their  vo- 
cation,   counting  nothing   dear   to   them,   without 
homes   of  their  own  or  fixed  abode,  they   found 
themselves  welcomed  everywhere  as  their  Master's 
representatives.     Wherever  the  Church  went  they 
were  honored  guests ;  all  houses  were  open  to  them ; 
they    had    a    thousand    friends    where    formerly 
they    had    one,    and    they    were    bound    to    these 
b}^  the  ties  of  a  charity  the  like  of  which  the  world 
had  never  known  before,  a  mutual  loyalty  in  tlie 
fellowship  of  Christ  which  burst  all  barriers  of  race 
and  nationality  and  made  them  one  in  the  joy  of 
the  Lord.     And  no  prophecy  has  ever  been  more 
truly  fulfilled  than  that  which  placed  these  men  on 
twelve  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 
That  is  exactly  the  position  they  occupy  to-day, 
owing  to  their  association  with  Jesus.    No  Israelite 
of  old  has  ever  meant  so  much  to  the  world  as  these 
lowly  fishermen  of  Galilee  who  first  carried  the  gos- 
pel from  Jerusalem  to  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Israel's  past  only  has  meaning  as  consummated  in 
them  and  their  work;  it  is  they  who  have  revealed 
it,  and  through  them  has  its  spiritual  dignity  be- 
come manifest. 

The  events  of  this  period,  as  jDlaced  in  juxta- 
position in  the  synoptics,  hang  well  together;  for 
again  the  sons  of  Zebedee  appear  upon  the  scene. 

339 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Influenced  apparently  by  the  striking  promise  to 
which  we  have  just  given  consideration,  they  ap- 
proached the  Master  with  the  request  that  they 
might  be  allowed  special  positions  of  honor  in  His 
Kingdom,  one  to  sit  on  His  right  hand,  the  other 
on  His  left.  Mark  says  they  made  this  ambitious 
solicitation  themselves,  Matthew  that  they  got  their 
mother  to  do  it.  Both  versions  might  literally  be 
true.  As  was  not  unnatural,  their  fellow  apostles 
were  very  angry  with  James  and  John,  feeling  that 
these  two  brothers  were  trying  to  steal  a  march  on 
their  companions  by  getting  their  mother  to  se- 
cure from  Jesus  a  promise  which  would  be  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  rest.  Again,  however,  Jesus 
is  represented  as  surprisingly  acquiescent.  Instead 
of  rebuking  the  presumption  of  James  and  John, 
He  merely  asks  them  if  they  are  able  to  drink  of 
His  cup  and  be  baptized  with  His  baptism.  They 
reply  confidently  that  they  are,  and  His  solemn  re- 
joinder is  that  they  shall  indeed  have  this  privilege, 
but  that  to  sit  on  His  right  hand  and  on  His  left 
is  not  His  to  give,  but  is  for  those  for  whom  it  is 
prepared  of  the  Father.  In  other  words,  as  He 
gently  told  them,  they  did  not  know  what  they  were 
asking.  Spiritual  eminence  is  not  a  matter  of  arbi- 
trary precedence,  but  of  lowly  goodness  and  of  the 
love  that  seeketh  not  its  own;  no  man  has  won  to 
the  highest  until  he  is  utterly  willing  to  be  identified 
with  the  lowest,  though  of  a  directly  contrary  spirit, 
Jesus  knew  these  two  men  better  than  they  knew 
themselves.  He  knew  them  capable  of  the  utter- 
most of  self-sacrifice,  and  knew  that  the  day  would 

340 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

come,  was  indeed  not  far  ahead,  when  they  would 
share  His  cup  of  pain  and  baptism  of  sorrow  to 
the  full,  counting  not  the  cost,  but  willingly  and 
joyfully  accepting  it  as  His  will  for  them  and  ask- 
ing no  higher  reward  than  to  be  the  witnesses  of 
His  holy  love  to  mankind.^^ 

While  the  others  were  venting  their  indignation 
upon  the  two  brothers  for  what  they  esteemed  their 
selfish  request,  Jesus  intervened  to  complete  His 
lesson.  "Ye  know,"  He  said,  "that  they  which  are 
accounted  to  rule  over  the  nations  of  the  world  ex- 
ercise lordship  over  them;  and  their  great  ones 
exercise  authority  upon  them.  But  so  it  shall  not 
be  among  you;  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among 
you,  shall  be  your  servant;  and  whosoever  of  you 
shall  be  the  chiefest,  shall  be  servant  of  all.  For 
even  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom 
for  many."  ^^  Luke's  version  of  the  same  saying 
adds  a  piece  of  quiet  irony.  "They  that  have  au- 
thority over  them,"  the  Master  observes,  "are  called 
benefactors."  "  There  is  a  versimilitude  about  this 
saying  which  stamps  it  as  a  genuine  utterance  of 
Jesus,  and  it  is  absolutely  true  to  the  facts.  We  do 
talk  even  to-dav,  as  much  as  in  any  other  day,  as 
though  those  in  high  secular  position  or  the  con- 
trollers of  great  stores  of  wealth  were  the  benefac- 
tors of  their  fellow  creatures  in  virtue  of  the  fact 
that  so  much  material  power  is  placed  in  their 
hands.     But  they  may  be  deserving  of  no  special 

^^  Bruce :  Training  of  the  Twelve,  pp.  276-279, 
3"  Mark  x.  42-45. 
2^  Luke  xxii.  25. 

341 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

credit  for  its  use;  those  only  are  the  benefactors  of 
the  race  in  whom  the  spirit  of  service  has  suppressed 
all  desire  for  self-aggrandizement  and  is  moved  and 
motived  by  the  love  of  God. 

It  should  be  noted  that  in  Mark's  order  of  events 
the  foregoing  is  preceded  by  a  passage  in  which  the 
commencement  of  the  last  journey  to  Jerusalem 
is  indicated,  but  from  what  point  is  not  stated.  It 
is  a  very  vivid  piece  of  description.  "And  they 
were  in  the  way  going  up  to  Jerusalem ;  and  Jesus 
went  before  them:  and  they  were  amazed;  and  as 
they  followed,  they  were  afraid."  ^^  The  scene  is 
brought  sharply  before  us — the  Master  walking  in 
front,  the  disciples  following  full  of  awe  and  some- 
thing of  dread  at  what  they  observed  in  His  de- 
meanor. They  felt  that  some  great  crisis  was  at 
hand,  but  could  not  understand  what.  There  was 
an  exaltation,  a  remoteness,  a  suggestion  of  firm 
resolve,  of  unusually  tense  emotion  in  the  Master's 
manner  which  disquieted  them  with  a  vague  appre- 
hension. Read  in  conjunction  with  the  fourth  gos- 
pel, this  uneasiness  of  theirs  is  perhaps  to  be  ac- 
counted for  on  other  grounds  as  well.  They  were 
reluctant  to  go  to  Jerusalem  for  the  good  reason 
that  of  late  violence  had  been  offered  to  Jesus 
therein,  and  there  was  every  likelihood  that  it  would 
be  so  again.  Turning  to  them  as  they  conversed 
upon  the  prospect  which  had  thus  filled  them  with 
foreboding,  Jesus  began  once  more  to  tell  them  ex- 
plicitly 'Vhat  things  should  happen  unto  Him."  ^^ 
He  left  them  in  no  doubt  concerning  the  outcome. 

S8  Mark  x.  32.  ^^  Mark  x.  32. 

343 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

He  knew,  and  was  going  to  Jerusalem  in  the  full 
knowledge,  that  betrayal  and  death  were  to  be  His 
portion ;  He  calmly  reviewed  the  events  of  the  pas- 
sion, and  concluded  by  once  more  predicting  His 
resurrection  on  the  third  day.  It  is  not  said  that 
they  understood  Him  on  this  occasion  any  better 
than  on  the  others,  though  this  time  it  might  be 
supposed  that  there  could  be  no  room  for  miscon- 
ception in  their  minds.  To  some  critics  this  obtuse- 
ness  is  inexplicable,  but  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  it  would  have  been  greatly  different  with 
any  other  group  of  persons  under  the  special  cir- 
cumstances. Considering  their  prepossessions  con- 
cerning the  functions  of  the  Messiah  and  the  nature 
of  the  Kingdom  that  they  believed  He  w^ould  in- 
augurate, considering,  too,  how  much  there  was  in 
the  utterances  of  Jesus  of  late  which  was  to  them 
mysterious  and  perplexing,  it  is  not  altogether  won- 
derful that  they  should  have  failed  to  grasp  the 
full  implications  of  what  He  was  now  impressing 
upon  them.  They  were  afraid  to  venture  into 
Jerusalem,  but  how  it  could  be  true  that  the  JNIes- 
siah  should  have  to  submit  to  such  a  fate  as  He  had 
just  described  was  to  them  incomprehensible. 
Either  Jesus  could  not  be  the  Messiah,  after  all,  or 
such  things  could  not  happen  to  Him.  Hence  it 
was  in  a  mood  of  very  considerable  perplexity  and 
disturbance  of  spirit  that  they  approached  the 
neiffhborhood  of  Jerusalem  on  this  occasion. 

This,  as  aforesaid,  is  probably  the  journey  re- 
ferred to  in  the  eleventh  of  St.  John,  of  which  the 
raising  of  Lazarus  was  the  immediate  objective. 

343 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

This  striking  event  is  not  mentioned  in  the  synop- 
tics, nor  its  bearing  on  the  determination  of  the  San- 
hedrin  to  have  Jesus  apprehended  before  the  feast 
of  the  Passover.  But  that  there  had  been  some  pre- 
vious visits  to  Jerusalem  after  the  close  of  the  Gali- 
lean ministrj^  is  shown  by  what  is  recorded  in 
chapters  vii  to  x  inclusive  of  the  fourth  gospel.  It 
is  evident  that  from  the  date  of  the  discourse  on  the 
bread  of  life  in  the  synagogue  at  Capernaum  Jesus 
was  not  left  long  unmolested  anywhere;  His  life 
was  continually  being  threatened. 

An  incidental  corroboration  of  the  synoptical  ac- 
count of  the  definite  ending  of  His  public  work  in 
Galilee  is  afforded  by  the  statement  in  St.  John  vii. 
10,  that  He  went  up  secretly  to  the  feast  of  Taber- 
nacles, to  which  reference  has  already  been  made 
above.  That  He  was  living  in  retirement,  perhaps 
somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nazareth,  is  also 
suggested  by  the  form  of  the  narrative  here  in 
which  Jesus'  brethren  are  represented  as  urging 
Him  to  go  up  to  the  feast  of  Tabernacles.  "There 
no  man  that  doeth  anything  in  secret,  and  He  Him- 
self seeketh  to  be  known  openly.  If  thou  do  these 
things  show  thyself  to  the  world."  ^°  The  evange- 
list subjoins  the  comment  that  "neither  did  His 
brethren  believe  in  him."  This  may  not  mean 
as  much  as  has  usually  been  read  into  it.  There 
is  no  indication  that  these  brethren  of  the  Mas- 
ter's were  deliberately  rejecting  His  claims  to  Mes- 
siahship  or  even  that  they  knew  of  them ;  such  claims 
are  not  mentioned  in  the  connection.    "Neither  did 

*°John  vii.  4. 

344 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

his  brethren  believe  in  him"  may  simply  mean 
that  He  had  not  yet  been  presented  to  them  as  the 
Messiah.  Their  advice  to  Him  to  go  up  to  the  feast 
was  a,  perhaps,  not  disrespectful  deprecation  of 
His  policy  of  withdrawal  from  the  public  gaze.  It 
must  have  seemed  to  them  a  puzzling  thing  that 
He  should  act  as  if  His  mission  were  at  an  end. 
If,  indeed.  He  had  a  mission,  as  His  past  activity 
had  seemed  to  demonstrate,  it  was  surely  His  duty 
to  show  Himself  to  the  world. 

We  should,  therefore,  not  be  justified  in  assum- 
ing that  there  were  strained  relations  between  our 
Lord  and  the  other  members  of  His  family  at  this 
time  or,  indeed,  at  any  other  time;  the  form  of  St. 
John's  narrative  suggests  that  the  brothers  were 
asking  Jesus  to  go  with  their  caravan.  This  He 
excused  Himself  from  doing,  telling  them  to  go 
without  Him,  as  He  did  not  deem  the  moment  for 
the  journey  a  suitable  one  so  far  as  He  was  con- 
cerned. The  story  is  very  well  told.  Jesus  did  not 
wish  to  rush  unnecessarily  upon  danger,  and  there 
was  now  great  danger  in  making  a  public  progress 
to  Jerusalem.  He  was  living  in  comparative  pri- 
vacy; His  brethren  evidently  knew  His  where- 
abouts, as  did  His  disciples,  but  not  the  general 
public.  In  response  to  His  brothers'  suggestion, 
therefore,  that  He  should  come  out  into  the  open 
again  by  accompanjang  them  to  Jerusalem  and 
continuing  His  work  there,  Jesus  tells  them  that 
they  could  go  without  risk  at  any  time,  whereas  He 
could  not,  and  that  He  intended  to  choose  His  own 

345 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

time  for  whatever  public  appearances  He  might 
make  in  the  future. 

As  we  have  ah-eady  noted,  He  waited  till  the 
ordinary  caravans  of  pilgrims  had  set  off  from  Gali- 
lee, going  perhaps  by  the  Perean  route,  and  then 
with  a  little  group  of  friends  He  also  made  towards 
Jerusalem,  "not  publicly,  but  as  it  were  in  secret,"  " 
taking  the  road  through  Samaria.  We  now  see 
why  He  took  this  road ;  it  was  because  He  was  less 
likely  to  meet  Jewish  pilgrims  upon  it  at  feast 
times  than  upon  the  other,  and  He  wanted  to  avoid 
notice. 

He  arrived  after  the  feast  had  begun.  St.  John 
says  the  Jews  were  looking  for  Him  everywhere 
and  disputing  about  Him  when  suddenly  He  ap- 
peared and  went  boldly  up  to  the  Temple  and 
taught.  This  was  a  dangerous  proceeding,  indeed, 
for  it  is  evident  from  the  context  that  His  death 
had  been  determined  upon.  "Why  go  ye  about  to 
kill  me  ?"  ^"  He  asks,  and  makes  a  specific  reference 
to  His  last  visit  when  He  had  excited  hostility  by 
healing  an  infirm  man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda  on 
the  Sabbath  day.  Many  were  astonished  at  His 
daring  to  appear  in  public  at  all.  "Then  said  some 
of  them  of  Jerusalem,  Is  not  this  He  whom  they 
seek  to  kill?  But,  lo.  He  speaketh  boldly,  and  they 
say  nothing  unto  Him.  Do  the  rulers  know,  in- 
deed, that  this  is  the  very  Christ?  (or,  that  this  is 
in  truth  the  Christ).  Howbeit  we  know  this  man 
whence  He  is:  but  when  Christ  cometh,  no  man 
41/&1U  la  ^2  Hid,  19. 

346 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

knoweth  whence  He  is."  "^  Discussion  of  the  pos- 
sibiht)^  of  His  being  the  Messiah  is  now  apparently 
quite  overt.  With  great  emphasis  Jesus  rephed  in 
a  loud  tone:  "Ye  both  know  me,  and  ye  know 
whence  I  am;  and  I  am  not  come  of  myself,  but 
He  that  sent  me  is  true,  whom  ye  know  not."  It  is 
to  be  observed  that  He  says  nothing  about  Messiah- 
ship,  but  in  striking  language  points  out  what  any 
spiritually-minded  man  ought  to  have  recognized, 
that  His  earthly  origin  is  not  in  question,  but  His 
right  to  speak  in  the  name  of  God.  When  the 
Messiah  actually  comes,  said  some  of  those  who 
heard,  will  He  do  more  wonderful  things  than  this 
man?  It  is  improbable  that  the  expected  Messiah 
was  ever  thought  of  as  a  worker  of  miracles  in  the 
sense  that  Jesus  now  was,  so  this  exclamation  can 
mean  no  more  than  that  people  in  general  were  con- 
scious of  the  transcendent  power  and  impressive- 
ness  of  Jesus'  personality  and  of  the  evident  tokens 
of  God's  presence  with  Him.  Their  question  in 
substance  was  a  demand  to  know  whether  any  one 
could  reasonably  expect  the  Messiah  to  be  a  more 
wonderful  being  than  this  prophet  of  Nazareth. 

The  sequel  is  interesting.  The  Sanhedrin  deter- 
mined upon  His  arrest  and  sent  officers  for  that 
special  purpose.  Why  they  did  not  execute  their 
commission  at  once  is  not  stated,  but  for  some  rea- 
son they  delayed.  When  they  reached  the  Temple 
where  He  was  discoursing  they  stayed  to  listen  and 
fell  under  the  spell  of  His  influence.  Somehow 
they  felt  that  could  not  arrest  Him,  though  there 

« Ibid.  25  ff. 

347 


THE   LIFE   OF    CHRIST 

was  a  division  among  the  people  because  of  Him. 
Some  were  emphatically  declaring  Him  to  be  the 
Christ ;  others  as  vehemently  maintained  that  Christ 
ought  to  come  out  of  Bethlehem  the  city  of  David, 
not  from  Galilee,  and  to  be  of  David's  seed.  It 
would  seem,  therefore,  that  Jesus'  Davidic  descent 
and  birth  at  Bethlehem  were  not  known  to  the 
people  He  was  now  addressing.  Presently  the  of- 
ficers returned  to  those  that  sent  them — no  doubt 
they  were  a  band  of  the  Temple  police  acting  under 
the  orders  of  the  Sanhedrin,  and,  therefore,  ortho- 
dox Jews — saying  in  excuse  for  their  failure  to  lay 
hands  upon  Him,  "Never  man  spake  like  this 
man."  ^^  This  is  one  of  the  most  illuminating 
touches  in  the  gospels  relating  to  the  effect  of  Jesus* 
personality  upon  His  hearers. 

For  the  sequence  of  events  in  this  closing  period 
of  the  ministry  we  are  almost  wholly  dependent 
upon  the  fourth  gospel,  and  many  of  the  details 
given  in  connection  therewith  suggest  an  eyewit- 
ness; the  local  coloring  is  correct  in  every  particu- 
lar. The  controversy  with  the  Jews — presumably 
resident  in  the  capital — is  represented  as  contin- 
uous, though  without  any  definite  testimony  to 
show  how  much  of  it  took  place  during  the  feast  of 
Tabernacles.  It  should  be  noted  that  in  more  than 
one  instance  the  Master  now  explicitly  states  that 
He  is  returning  to  Him  that  sent  Him,  whither 
His  opponents  cannot  follow  Him.  This  saying 
greatly  perplexes  His  hearers,  whereupon  He  pub- 
licly declares  on  at  least  one  occasion:  "Ye  are  from 

**John  vii.  46. 

348 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY^ 

beneath;  I  am  from  above:  Ye  are  of  this  world;  I 
am  not  of  this  world."  *°  Nothing  could  be  more 
definite  as  a  revelation  of  His  consciousness  of  be- 
longing to  an  altogether  higher  order  of  things 
than  that  of  earthly  existence.  That  those  to  whom 
it  was  made  regarded  it  as  such  is  shown  by  their 
further  inquiry,  "Who  art  thou?"  If  He  were  not 
of  this  world  what  was  His  super-earthly  status; 
whence  and  how  had  He  come  into  this  world  and 
for  what  purpose?  But  Jesus  refuses  to  answer 
further  than  that  He  had  told  them  all  along  that 
He  was  one  sent  of  God.  This  was  all  He  chose  to 
reveal  thus  far,  but  it  was  quite  sufficient  to  sug- 
gest to  many  minds,  taken  in  connection  with  His 
marvelous  words  and  works  of  power,  that  He  must 
be  the  Messiah.  It  did  not  follow  that  the  ^lessiah 
was  a  supernatural  being,  but  as  many  persons 
thought  of  Him  as  such,  in  accordance  with  popu- 
lar apocalyptic  views,  the  suggestion  was  inevitable 
that  Jesus  might  be  He  if  His  account  of  Himself 
were  to  be  believed.  "Wlien  ye  have  lifted  up  the 
Son  of  INIan,"  He  continued,  "then  shall  ye  know 
that  I  am  He." ''  In  the  light  of  after  develop- 
ments we  have  in  these  words  a  veiled  reference  to 
the  crucifixion  and  ascension,  but  also,  after  the 
manner  of  the  fourth  gospel,  the  saying  has  a  spiri- 
tual significance  which  could  not  then  have  been 
apparent.  He  further  calls  Himself  the  light  of 
the  world,  and  concludes  a  daring  discourse  with 
the  striking  affirmation,  "Before  Abraham  was,  I 

45  John  viii.  23. 

48 Or,  "What  I  Am":  John  viii.  28. 

349 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

am."  ^"^  What  His  hearers  could  have  made  of  this 
it  is  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  say,  and  they  seem 
to  have  regarded  it  as  intolerable  and  attempted  to 
stone  Him  for  it,  but  by  some  means  not  stated  He 
got  away  into  safety.  A  dramatic,  nonmiraculous 
escape  may  be  indicated  in  the  laconic  passage: 
"But  Jesus  hid  Himself,  and  went  out  of  the  Tem- 
ple, going  through  the  midst  of  them,  and  so  passed 
by."  The  better  authenticated  Mss.  of  the  gospel 
merely  have  it  that  He  concealed  Himself  and 
withdrew  from  the  Temple;  there  is  no  hint  of  the 
marvelous  about  His  manner  of  doing  so;  all  that 
is  conveyed  in  the  narrative  is  that  violence  was  of- 
fered and  that  Jesus  thereupon -terminated  His 
discourse  within  the  Temple  precincts  and  retired 
from  the  scene,  perhaps  assisted  by  His  friends  and 
disciples.  How  often  He  came  and  went  be- 
tween Jerusalem  and  His  place  of  retreat  during 
these  last  months  is  nowhere  stated,  but,  reading 
between  the  lines,  we  may  infer  that  He  was  now 
more  or  less  constantly  on  the  move.  His  familiar- 
ity with  the  home  at  Bethany  justifies  us  in  conclud- 
ing that  this  was  one  of  His  favorite  resting  places 
whence  He  could  easily  reach  Jerusalem  when  He 
wished  to  do  so  or  remain  in  privacy  in  the  inter- 
vals. All  that  is  recorded  in  chapters  vii  to  x  of 
St.  John's  gospel  may  have  taken  place  in  a  com- 
paratively short  time  and  with  few  public  appear- 
ances. Moreover,  we  may  judge  from  our  Lord's 
general  way  of  conducting  Himself  at  this  period 
that  He  had  made  up  His  mind  not  to  accept  death 

*7  Ibid.  58. 

350 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY; 

until  the  feast  of  the  Passover,  partly  because  that 
was  the  great  religious  gathering  of  the  year  which 
persons  of  Jewish  race  attended  from  all  over  the 
Roman  empire,  and  partly  because  He  was  con- 
scious of  the  fitness  of  inaugurating  the  new  dis- 
pensation by  an  act  of  sacrifice  as  the  old  had  been. 
He  was  Himself  to  be  the  victim,  the  paschal  lamb, 
as  it  were,  whose  sprinkled  blood  should  cause  the 
destroying  angel  to  pass  by  the  habitations  of  God's 
people.  That  this  is  no  fanciful  interpretation  of 
the  INIaster's  motives  is  apparent  from  the  entire 
gospel  record.  Hence  these  withdrawlngs  in  the 
midst  of  storm  and  tumult  and  ever-increasing  ran- 
cor; hence,  too,  the  comparative  secrecy  of  Jesus' 
movements  from  dav  to  dav. 

To  this  phase  belong  the  story  of  the  healing  of 
the  man  born  blind  and  the  discourses  in  which 
Jesus  describes  Himself  as  the  Door  and  the  Good 
Shepherd.  It  is  noteworthy  that  to  the  erstwhile 
blind  man,  who  had  bravely  defended  Him  against 
the  calumnies  of  the  Pharisees  and  been  cast  out  of 
the  synagogue  for  his  fidelity.  He  revealed  Him- 
self as  the  Son  of  God.  Perhaps  it  is  to  this  self- 
designation  that  reference  was  made  shortly  after- 
wards at  the  feast  of  the  Dedication.  The  blind 
man  may  have  told  others  of  it  and  thus  it  became 
known.  The  episode  of  the  woman  taken  in 
adultery  is  inserted  here  as  part  of  the  story  of  the 
events  grouped  around  the  feast  of  Tabernacles, 
but  whether  it  belongs  to  it  or  not,  or,  indeed,  ought 
to  find  a  place  in  the  fourth  gospel  at  all,  is,  of 
course,  questionable.     It  has  all  the  marks  of  au- 

351 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

thentlcltj^  and  the  attitude  said  to  have  been 
adopted  by  the  Master  on  the  occasion  accords  with 
what  we  might  expect  of  Him ;  it  is  part  of  the  gen- 
eral apostohc  tradition ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  refer 
it  confidently  to  any  one  specific  period  in  the  min- 
istry. All  through  the  feast  of  Tabernacles  and 
the  discourses  appertaining  thereto,  Jesus  is  con- 
sistentty  represented  as  being  assailed  by  His 
adversaries  in  public  disputation  with  the  utmost 
bitterness  and  animosity.  That  He  knew  the  end 
was  near  is  apparent  from  some  of  His  own  utter- 
ances in  reply  to  them.  "I  lay  down  my  life,"  He 
declared,  "that  I  might  take  it  again.  No  man  tak- 
eth  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself."  ^^  And 
the  sharp  division  of  parties  concerning  His  per- 
sonality and  mysterious  but  astounding  claims 
grows  more  and  more  intense.  Had  Jesus  not  with- 
drawn His  presence  from  the  capital  the  tragedy  of 
Calvary  would  almost  certainly  have  been  antici- 
pated by  some  months. 

In  St.  John's  version  of  the  events  of  this  period 
it  is  not  said  that  He  left  Jerusalem  at  all  between 
the  feast  of  Tabernacles  and  that  of  Dedication; 
it  merely  states  that  He  was  present  at  both.  Luke 
leaves  room  at  this  point  for  more,  and  adds  a  de- 
scription of  a  visit  to  Martha  and  Mary  at  Bethany, 
which  may  reasonably  be  regarded  as  corroborating 
what  has  been  said  above  that  Bethany  was  His 
place  of  retreat  while  He  was  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Jerusalem. 

At  the  feast  of  Dedication  above  mentioned  the 

<8John  X.  17,  18, 

352 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

Jews — that  is,  the  same  set  of  hostile  inhabitants 
of  Jerusalem  as  before — surrounded  Him  as  He 
walked  in  the  Temple  in  Solomon's  porch  (a  de- 
scriptive touch  which  suggests  a  vivid  recollection 
of  the  scene  on  the  part  of  the  narrator)  and  put 
to  Him  the  abrupt  question:  "How  long  dost  thou 
make  us  to  doubt?  If  thou  be  the  Christ,  tell  us 
plainly."  *^  Once  more  in  reply  the  Master  with- 
out either  affirming  or  denying  His  Messiahship 
declares  that  He  is  heaven-sent  and  that  His  mis- 
sion is  spiritual,  but  concludes  with  a  more  startling 
claim  than  any  He  has  yet  made  regarding  His 
relationship  to  God.  "I  and  my  Father  are  one,"  ^** 
He  says.  Again  the  attempt  is  made  to  stone  Him, 
this  time  for  making  Himself  God,  and  it  is  in  this 
connection  that  Jesus  defends  Himself  by  assert- 
ing on  the  authority  of  the  Psalmist  the  divine 
quality  of  all  messengers  of  the  word  of  God.  "If 
He  called  them  gods  unto  whom  the  word  of  God 
came,"  He  asks  .  .  .  "say  ye  of  Him  whom  the 
Father  hath  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world. 
Thou  blasphemest;  because  I  said  I  am  the  Son  of 
God?""  As  He  is  not  reported  to  have  said  so 
previously  except  to  the  blind  man  whom  He  had 
healed  at  or  soon  after  the  feast  of  Tabernacles, 
the  observation  is  arresting.  Apparently  it  was 
because  they  knew  of  this  that  they  interrogated 
Him  on  the  subject  of  His  Messiahship,  and  it 
would  seem  that  they  understood  the  phrase  Son 
of  God  in  a  Messianic  sense,  which  it  did  not  neces- 
sarily bear.     The  immediate  result  of  this  avowal, 

49  Ibid.  24.  60  Ji^id,  30.  61  Jii(j_  35^  35. 

353 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

however,  was  that  they  at  once  attempted  to  seize 
Him,  and  again  He  had  to  make  His  escape,  this 
time  going  away  beyond  Jordan — Bethabara? — to 
the  place  where  John  had  originally  baptized.  He 
appears  to  have  fixed  His  dwelling  there  for  some 
time,  many  people  going  out  to  see  and  hear  Him 
as  they  had  formerly  gone  out  to  see  and  hear  the 
Baptist. 

It  is  to  St.  Luke  that  we  have  to  refer  for  fuller 
details  of  this  Perean  ministry  which  lasted  till  near 
the  feast  of  the  Passover.  For  one  thing  Jesus' 
life  is  now  threatened  from  a  new  quarter.  Some 
of  the  Pharisees  warned  Him  to  flee  out  of  the 
district  because  Herod  intended  to  have  Him  put 
to  death.  "Go  ye,  and  tell  that  fox,"  He  intrepidly 
answered,  "Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures 
to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the  day  following:  for 
it  cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish  out  of  Jerusa- 
lem." ^"  These  words  are  strongly  confirmatory  of 
the  opinion  expressed  above,  that  Jesus  was  now 
deliberately  waiting  for  the  feast  of  the  Passover 
to  come  before  delivering  Himself  into  the  hands 
of  His  enemies  and  submitting  to  the  fate  which 
He  saw  to  be  in  store  for  Him.  "O  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,"  He  concludes  in  mournful  apostrophe, 
"which  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  that 
are  sent  unto  thee ;  how  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  together,  as  a  hen  doth  gather  her 
brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not !  Behold, 
your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate:  and  verily  I 
say  unto  you,  Ye  shall  not  see  me,  until  the  time 

^'  Luke  xiii.  32.  33. 

354 


LAST  PHASE  OF  THE  MINISTRY 

come  when  ye  shall  say.  Blessed  is  He  that  cometh 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  " 

It  is  to  Luke's  special  source  that  we  are  in- 
debted for  such  slender  details  as  we  possess  rela- 
tive to  this  Perean  ministry,  mentioned  elsewhere 
only  by  inference.  It  is  not  so  clear  that  we  ousrht 
to  refer  to  it  the  various  works  and  discourses  which 
occupy  this  part  of  the  third  gospel.  A  more  prob- 
able view  is  that  some  of  these  at  least  are  inserted 
here  out  of  their  due  chronological  order  and  might 
belong  to  any  period  of  Jesus'  public  activities. 
We  have  already  seen  reason  to  suggest  that  chap- 
ter XV,  with  its  three  beautiful  parables,  is  a  report 
of  a  discourse  delivered  on  a  much  earlier  occasion, 
namely,  the  feast  in  JNIatthew's  house,  and  the  same 
may  be  true  of  much  else  that  is  inserted  here,  such 
as  the  healing  on  the  Sabbath  day  of  a  man  afflicted 
with  dropsy.  The  three  parables  of  the  gi'eat  sup- 
per, of  the  unjust  steward,  and  of  Dives  and  Laza- 
rus may  be  on  a  different  footing,  however.  The 
first-named  may  be  an  allusion  to  the  INIessianic 
banquet  of  popular  apocalyptic  belief;  indeed,  it 
probabl}^  is  so,  and,  therefore,  the  warning  of  re- 
jection which  it  contains  is  more  in  place  at  the  end 
of  the  ministry  than  it  would  have  been  at  the  begin- 
ning. Matthew's  parallel  to  it,  the  parable  of  the 
marriage  of  the  king's  son,  has  the  same  bearing 
though  widely  different  in  detail.  The  point  of 
the  story  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  as  of  the  unjust 
steward,  is  that  the  use  of  earthly  possessions  is  a 
matter  of  grave  responsibility  of  which  men  must 

53  Ibid.  34,  35. 

355 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

give  account  in  the  world  to  come.  There  is  some 
ground  also  for  referring  to  the  general  circum- 
stances of  these  last  few  weeks  or  months  the  para- 
ble of  the  Good  Samaritan,  if  it  be  a  parable,  and 
that  of  the  rich  fool.  The  former  would  gain  addi- 
tional force  from  the  fact  that  Jesus  had  recently 
been  inhospitably  treated  on  His  Way  through  Sa- 
maria. Was  it  now  also  that,  as  Luke  suggests  in 
contradistinction  to  IMatthew,  our  Lord  uttered  the 
pathetic  saying  that  He  had  not  where  to  lay  His 
head  ?  for  it  would  be  literally  true  of  these  last  Wan- 
derings. He  had  said  good-bye  to  Galilee  and  was 
more  or  less  of  a  fugitive  and  in  hiding,  moving 
from  place  to  place  without  settled  abode.  It  is 
Luke  again  who  tells  about  Martha  and  Mary  and 
the  one  thing  needful,  and  Luke's  special  source 
also  (chapter  xi)  is  the  Christian  classic  on  the  sub- 
ject of  prayer.  Luke,  as  we  have  seen,  is  always 
anxious  to  preserve  sayings  that  reflect  upon  the 
rich  and  show  sympathy  with  the  poor,  and  he  also 
shields  the  reputation  of  the  apostles  where  he  can. 
Thus  we  get  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  who  wanted 
to  pull  down  his  barns  and  build  greater.  It  is 
Luke  also  who  tells  about  the  fruitless  fig  tree  which 
was  spared  a  little  longer,  and  the  miracle  of  the 
woman  bowed  with  a  spirit  of  infirmity — another 
Sabbath  day  healing.  All  these  emphasize  the  com- 
passionateness  of  Jesus. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PASSION,  RESURRECTION,  AND 
ASCENSION 

Events  Antecedent  to  the  Last  Passover 

While  Jesus  was  absent  in  Perea  for  the  rea- 
sons above  stated,  His  friend  Lazarus,  of  whose 
home  He  had  been  an  inmate  not  long  before,  fell 
ill  and  the  good  sisters,  Martha  and  Mary,  sent  to 
tell  their  JMaster  so  in  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
messages  that  ever  fell  from  human  lips :  "Lord,  he 
whom  thou  lovest  is  sick."  ^  We  are  not  told  how 
the  message  was  conveyed,  but  apparently  the  send- 
ers thought  it  would  instantly  be  heeded.  But  no 
overt  response  came;  Jesus  allowed  His  friend  to 
die  and  be  buried  before  He  made  any  move  to 
help  the  mourners  or  to  show  that  He  cared  about 
their  sorrow.  Perhaps  they  hardly  expected  Him 
to  come  in  person  to  their  aid;  they  must  have 
known,  as  everybody  now  knew,  how  perilous  a 
journey  to  Judea  had  become  for  Jesus;  in  fact, 
the  apostles  remonstrated  with  Him  for  proposing 
to  return  on  this  occasion.    "Let  us  also  go  that  we 

1  John  xl  3. 

857 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

may  die  with  Him"  was  the  way  in  which  one  of 
their  number  summed  up  the  probabihties  if  Jesus 
were  resolved  to  venture  as  near  as  Bethany  to  the 
headquarters  of  the  deadhest  opposition  He  had  to 
encounter.  Nevertheless  He  went.  Lazarus  is  said 
to  have  been  dead  four  days  by  this  time.  "Lord, 
if  thou  hadst  been  here  my  brother  had  not  died"  ^ 
was  the  gentle  reproach  with  which  both  the  sisters 
greeted  Him  on  His  arrival.  The  house  was  filled 
with  mourners,  including  some  of  the  Pharisees 
from  Jerusalem,  a  fact  which  suggests  that  Lazarus 
and  Mary  and  Martha  were  persons  of  some  social 
importance,  associated,  perhaps,  by  relationship 
with  the  Pharisaic  order.  St.  John  says  that  "many 
of  the  Jews  had  come  to  Martha  and  Mary,  to  con- 
sole them  concerning  their  brother."  Was  there  an 
inner  tragedy  here?  Was  Judas  another  brother 
of  the  family?  We  shall  see  ground  presently  for 
inferring  that  this  may,  indeed,  have  been  so,  and, 
therefore,  that  there  was  a  direct  connection  be- 
tween the  raising  of  Lazarus  and  the  death  of 
Jesus;  the  one  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  the 
other.  The  Master's  emotions  overpowered  Him 
at  the  grave,  and  He  wept — not  for  him  who  lay 
within  and  whom  He  was  about  to  restore  to  the 
two  bereaved  women  whose  hearts  He  would  glad- 
den by  the  wondrous  act,  but  for  all  that  would 
presently  accrue  therefrom  and  for  the  world's  bur- 
den of  sorrow,  for  the  dead  He  would  not  raise  that 
day  and  all  the  stricken  homes  He  would  not  com- 
fort, for  the  long,  long  tale  of  human  suffering 

2  Ibid.  21,  32. 

358 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

throughout  the  ages,  the  appalling  total  of  man's 
wickedness  and  woe.  That  was  why  He  wept  as 
He  would  weep  to-day  before  the  bloody  battle- 
fields and  devastated  homes  of  Europe. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  silence  of  the  synop- 
tics concerning  this  amazing  miracle  is  very  strange. 
They,  especially  Luke,  give  considerable  space  to 
the  events  leading  up  to  the  arrest  of  Jesus  in  Jeru- 
salem in  holy  week  and  j^et  omit  all  mention  of  this 
crowning  exercise  of  His  wonder-working  power, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  fourth  evangelist 
emphatically  avers  that  it  was  because  of  it  that  the 
chief  priests  and  the  Pharisees  held  the  council  at 
which  it  was  formally  determined  to  have  Jesus 
put  to  death  as  soon  as  they  could  lay  hands  upon 
Him.  Their  avowed  reason  for  this  proceeding  is 
said  to  have  been  that  if  they  let  Him  alone  He 
would  sweep  the  whole  nation  after  Him  and  that 
the  Romans  would  in  consequence  deprive  them  of 
such  remnants  of  self-government  as  they  yet  pos- 
sessed. They  were  afraid  that  Jesus,  with  or  with- 
out His  own  consent,  would  become  the  center  of 
an  insurrectionary  movement  which  would  lead  to 
the  suppression  of  Jewish  nationality  by  the  Roman 
military  power.  As  we  have  seen,  however,  the 
Sanhedrin  had  another  reason  for  wishing  to  get 
rid  of  Jesus,  and  that  was  that  He  was  imperiling 
their  own  authority  with  the  people. 

Rut  what  of  the  miracle  itself?  Is  it  credible? 
Three  times  our  Lord  is  said  to  have  raised  the  dead 
— in  the  case  of  Jairus'  daughter  and  of  the  widow's 
son  at  Nain,  as  well  as  of  Lazarus — and  the  ordi- 

359 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

nary  man  at  the  present  day  would  naturally  deny 
the  possibility  of  such  occurrences  if  he  were  now 
hearing  of  them  for  the  first  time  or  in  connection 
with  any  other  person  than  Jesus.  But  this  is  a 
subject  in  which  we  shall  have  to  reexamine  our 
prepossessions.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
trance  state,  which  so  closely  resembles  death  as  to 
be  all  but  indistinguishable  therefrom  in  many  in- 
stances, is  prolonged  for  a  short  time  even  after 
death.  Most  of  those  who  pass  over  to  the  other  side 
of  life  are  said  to  remain  in  a  state  analogous  to 
sleep  for  a  certain  period,  long  or  short,  as  the  case 
may  be.  It  is  also  asserted  that  the  spirit  or  dis- 
carnate  self  of  the  deceased  person  usually  remains 
for  a  few  days  after  the  severance  effected  by  death 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  body;  separation  is  not 
entirely  complete.  There  is  nothing  gruesome  in 
this  idea.  The  disembodied  spirit  might  be  quite 
unconscious  of  being  held  captive  in  any  degree  by 
the  fleshly  tenement  it  had  just  quitted,  as,  indeed, 
of  everything  else  for  a  time,  and  in  any  event  the 
connection  is  a  very  loose  one  and  cannot  last  long: 
it  would  naturally  cease  with  the  commencement  of 
corruption.  Had  Jesus  waited  longer  than  the  four 
days  specified,  the  spirit  of  Lazarus  would  have 
been  finally  freed  from  all  attachment  to  the  body 
and  begun  to  adjust  itself  to  new  conditions;  as  it 
was  it  was  not  too  late  to  recall  the  whole  being  to 
the  world  of  sense.  This  was  not  well  understood 
then,  nor  is  it  now,  but  in  the  light  of  modern  ex- 
perimental knowledge  of  the  mysterious  borderland 
between  life  and  death,  all  that  is  recorded  in  the 

260 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

New  Testament  regarding  Jesus'  power  to  raise 
the  dead  is  perfectly  credible.  In  every  instance 
that  power  was  exerted  within  a  short  time  after 
death  or  what  seemed  to  be  death :  it  may  have  been 
trance,  but  if  the  view  just  advanced  be  correct 
there  is  not  much  difference  between  the  two. 

It  should  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that  with 
this  as  with  all  other  miracles  it  records,  the  fourth 
gospel  gives  a  parabolic  turn  to  the  marvel.  "I 
know  that  he  shall  rise  again  in  the  resurrection  at 
the  last  day"  says  poor  sorrowing  ^lartha:  "I  am 
the  resurrection,"  ^  is  the  INIaster's  impressive  reply. 
Here  again,  too,  Martha  is  shown  as  confessing  that 
she  knows  Jesus  to  be  the  Messiah.  There  is  noth- 
ing wonderful  in  this.  As  Jesus  had  now  definitely 
revealed  His  consciousness  of  Messiahship  to  the 
twelve,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  He  would 
conceal  it  from  other  trusted  and  intimate  friends. 

St.  John  says  that  Jesus  knew  what  was  being 
plotted,  and,  therefore,  did  not  stay  long  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Jerusalem  on  this  occasion,  but 
went  back  into  the  wilderness  region  for  safety, 
staying  with  His  disciples  for  a  short  time  in  a  place 
called  Ephraim,  the  locality  of  which  it  is  now  im- 
possible to  determine.  We  cannot  be  certain  about 
the  sequence  of  events  from  this  point.  It  is  not 
very  likely  that  He  returned  northward  through 
Samaria,  and  yet  Luke  mentions  (xvii.  11)  the 
healing  of  ten  lepers  either  in  Samaria  or  in  Gali- 
lee. This  healing  may  have  taken  place  on  the 
southward  journey  through  Samaria  already  men- 

8  John  xi.  25. 

361 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

tioned.  The  parable  of  the  unjust  judge  and  of 
the  Pharisee  and  the  publican  is  placed  here  in 
Luke's  special  source,  together  with  the  blessing  of 
little  children.  Perhaps  the  parable  of  the  laborers 
in  the  vineyard,  which  is  peculiar  to  Matthew, 
should  be  assigned  to  this  short  period  of  retire- 
ment in  the  Judean  wilderness.  Its  application  is 
that  those  entering  late  into  the  service  of  God  are 
at  no  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the  earlier. 
There  is  in  this  an  evident  allusion  to  non-Jews 
whom  the  gospel  message  had  not  hitherto  reached, 
and  who  in  response  to  the  inquiry  "Why  stand  ye 
here  the  day  idle?"  could  honestly  say  "Because 
no  man  hath  hired  us."  ^ 

Last  Journey  to  Jerusalem 

We  come  now  to  the  Messianic  crisis  and  the 
close  of  our  Lord's  earthly  life.  There  is  substan- 
tial agreement  in  all  the  gospels  on  the  preliminary 
facts.  The  Passover  drew  near,  and  many  who 
went  up  to  prepare  for  it  speculated  on  this  occa- 
sion, as  at  the  feast  of  Tabernacles  not  long  before, 
whether  Jesus  would  dare  to  come  to  the  feast,  the 
chief  priests  and  Pharisees  having  given  orders  that 
if  any  man  knew  where  He  was  he  should  disclose 
it  in  order  that  they  might  seize  Him.  For  the  last 
time  Jesus  predicts  His  coming  passion  to  the  few 
disciples  who  shared  His  retirement — though  ap- 
parently with  so  little  effect  that  James  and  John 
now  made  the  ambitious  request  referred  to  above. 
Moving  towards  Jerusalem  He  passes  near  Jericho, 

*  Matt.  XX.  7. 

363 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

healing  blind  Bartim^eus  on  the  way.  Here  again 
Matthew  mentions  two  persons  while  Mark  and 
Luke  say  one.  The  noteworthy  thing  about  the 
incident  is  the  blind  man's  salutation:  "Jesus,  thou 
son  of  David."  ^  How  did  Bartimseus  know  that 
Jesus  was  of  Davidic  descent?  No  information  is 
given  on  this  point,  but  we  may  reasonably  infer 
from  the  silence  of  Jewish  opponents  thereon  in 
later  days  that  the  fact  that  Jesus  was  of  the  seed 
of  David  was  unquestioned  by  those  who  knew  His 
origin.  That  there  were  some  who  did  not  know  it 
during  His  public  appearances  in  Jerusalem  is 
equally  evident. 

The  beautiful  incident  of  Jesus'  visit  to  the  house 
of  Zacchffius,  the  publican,  here  finds  a  place  in 
Luke's  narrative.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  suf- 
ficient reason  for  identifying  Zacchfeus  with  Mat- 
thew as  some  have  attempted  to  do.  It  would  throw 
Luke's  chronology  completely  out  if  we  were  to 
place  this  dramatic  meeting  at  the  beginning  in- 
stead of  the  end  of  the  ministry,  and  it  is  not  with- 
out significance  that  the  parable  of  the  Pharisee 
and  the  publican  is  represented  as  having  been 
spoken  about  the  same  time.  The  parable  of  the 
pounds  may  have  been  uttered  on  this  occasion  or 
it  may  not.  Luke  says  the  Master  addressed  it  to 
those  who  "thought  that  the  Kingdom  of  God 
should  immediately  appear."  ^  It  is  a  close  parallel 
to  the  parable  of  the  talents  recorded  oy  Matthew, 
but  there  are  important  differences  also. 

6  Mark  x.  47.    Cf.  Matt.  xx.  30  and  Luke  xviii.  38. 
8  Luke  xix.  11. 

363 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Events  now  move  rapidly.  A  few  days  before 
the  Passover  Jesus  came  to  Bethany  once  more — 
or  Bethphage,  as  two  of  the  evangelists  have  it. 
Then  follows  the  trimnphal  entry  into  Jerusalem, 
a  proceeding  on  the  part  of  Jesus  which  must  have 
been  deliberate  and  undertaken  with  a  solemn  pur- 
pose in  view.  He  abandons  all  concealment  and 
openly  challenges  the  constituted  authority  which 
He  knows  to  be  resolved  upon  His  death.  Why  is 
this;  and  what  does  the  public  welcome  given  to 
Him  signify?  Did  the  acclamation  of  the  multi- 
tude, "Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David,"  etc.,'  mean 
that  they  recognized  Him  as  the  Messiah?  Per- 
haps the  best  answer  to  the  question  is  the  one  they 
themselves  gave  when  interrogated  on  the  subject, 
"This  is  Jesus  the  prophet  of  Nazareth  of  Gali- 
lee." *  They  acclaimed  Him,  not  as  the  Messiah, 
but  as  a  prophet,  a  prophet  whom  they  regarded 
from  His  own  words  as  declaring  the  near  advent 
of  the  coming  Kingdom.  John,  however,  distinctly 
states  that  some  saluted  Him  as  the  king  of  Israel 
coming  in  the  name  of  the  Lord;  but  he  also  adds 
that  His  disciples  did  not  understand  the  complete 
significance  of  the  event — that  is,  apparently,  did 
not  take  the  apostrophe  literally.  Still  there  must 
have  been  some  who  remembered  that  He  had  al- 
ready been  desired  as  king  and  were  quite  willing 
to  proclaim  Him  as  such.  Jesus'  action  in  riding 
upon  an  ass's  colt  may  have  been  designed  to  draw 
attention  to  His  Messianic  claims  or  at  least  to  set 

'Matt.  xxi.  9,  15.  ^Ibid.  11. 

364 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

people  thinking  about  them  in  accordance  with  the 
well-known  prophecy  in  Zechariah.  The  facts  are 
best  explained  on  this  hypothesis.  The  hour  was 
near  when  He  meant  to  declare  Himself,  but  to  de- 
clare Himself  at  the  very  moment  when  He  was 
making  the  supreme  act  of  sacrifice,  so  everything 
He  did  beforehand  had  reference  to  the  consumma- 
tion He  had  so  long  foreseen.  John  says  a  crowd 
of  people  went  out  to  meet  Him  with  palm  branches 
in  their  hands,  and  that  what  mainly  influenced 
them  in  doing  so  was  the  stupendous  miracle  of  the 
raising  of  Lazarus  shortly  before. 

The  authorities  were  completely  nonplused  and 
knew  not  what  to  do.  They  had  meant  to  arrest 
Him  at  the  first  opportunity;  but  this  astonishing 
and  unexpected  public  appearance  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  crowded  city  took  them  unawares.  "The 
Pharisees,  therefore,  said  among  themselves.  Per- 
ceive ye  how  ye  prevail  nothing?  behold,  the  world 
has  gone  after  him."  ^  There  could  be  no  public 
attack  on  Him  now  or  there  might  be  a  tumult; 
they  must  change  their  tactics  and  get  Him  into 
their  power  quietly  if  that  were  possible.  They  de- 
cided to  put  Lazarus  to  death  also — possibly 
because  they  believed  him  to  be  a  confederate  with 
Jesus  in  palming  off  on  the  public  an  imposture  in 
the  shape  of  his  supposed  death  and  resurrection. 
If  they  could  have  him  slain  the  imposture  would 
be  exposed  and  Jesus  discredited.  It  is  not  said 
whether  they  ever  succeeded  in  this  plan;  it  would 
not  be  easy  to  secure  the  requisite  consent  of  the 

^John  xii.  19. 

365 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Roman  governor  in  the  case  of  Lazarus,  as  no  spe- 
cific charge  could  be  preferred  against  him.  In 
any  event  the  destruction  of  Jesus  would  be  enough 
for  the  gaining  of  their  ends. 

The  fourth  evangelist  tells  us  that  Jesus  had  been 
six  days  at  Bethany  before  this  triumphal  entry 
which  excited  such  commotion,  and  that  Lazarus 
and  his  sisters  prepared  a  supper  for  Him.  This 
would  appear  to  have  been  in  presence  of  a  large 
company,  for  the  comment  is  added  that  "much 
people  of  the  Jews,  therefore,  knew  that  He  was 
there;  for  they  came  not  for  Jesus'  sake  only,  but 
that  they  might  see  Lazarus  also,  whom  he  had 
raised  from  the  dead."  "  This  suggests  that  Jesus 
no  longer  wished  to  conceal  His  movements;  the 
crisis  had  come,  and  He  had  come  to  meet  it ;  there 
was  no  further  point  in  keeping  out  of  the  public 
view. 

It  was  at  this  supper  that  Mary  is  said  to  have 
anointed  His  feet  with  costly  ointment  and  wiped 
them  with  her  hair.  And  herein  arises  a  problem 
of  no  small  complexity,  but  capable  of  a  solution 
of  much  suggestiveness  for  a  right  understanding 
of  the  situation  now  developing.  Matthew,  Mark, 
and  John  record  this  particular  scene  in  terms  which 
are  not  inconsistent  with  each  other.  Luke  does 
not,  but  tells  of  another  very  like  it  as  having  oc- 
curred earlier  in  the  ministry.  Roman  Catholic 
tradition  identifies  these  two  narratives;  Protes- 
tants for  the  most  part  sharply  discriminate  be- 
tween them.     On  the  former  theory  it  has  to  be 

•^'  Ibid.  9. 

366 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

admitted  that  Mary  of  Bethany  and  the  woman 
that  was  a  sinner — otherwise  identified  with  Mary 
Magdalene — were  the  same  person,  and  perhaps 
the  reluctance  to  concede  this  has  somewhat  in- 
fluenced Protestant  judgment  in  the  matter. 
Catholics,  on  the  other  hand,  would  see  no  difficulty, 
rather  the  contrary,  in  affirming  that  a  harlot  might 
become  a  saint  and  attain  to  the  closest  spiritual 
intimacy  with  Jesus.  Still,  despite  the  similarities 
in  the  two  stories,  the  chronological  difficulty  re- 
mains. What  are  we  to  say  about  it ;  and  how  ac- 
count for  Luke's  beautiful  and  touching  version  of 
an  incident  which  seems  to  have  been  repeated  al- 
most on  the  eve  of  Jesus'  arrest? 

To  the  present  writer  it  appears  the  more  prob- 
able conclusion  that  there  were,  indeed,  two  anoint- 
ings as  so  many  Protestant  exegetes  contend,  but 
that  the  Catholic  view  is  the  true  one  concerning  the 
identity  of  the  woman  in  question.  Tradition  has  it 
that  Simon  the  Pharisee  and  Simon  the  leper  were 
the  same  person.  He  is  said  to  have  been  present 
at  the  first  anointing,  but  not  at  the  second.  Why  ? 
Because  in  the  latter  case  he  could  scarcely  have 
been  sitting  at  meat  with  a  promiscuous  company; 
a  leper,  even  a  wealthy  one,  would  have  to  be  kept 
apart  from  others  more  or  less — certainly  at  meal 
times.  Mary  is  said  to  have  been  enticed  away  from 
home  in  the  first  instance  by  a  young  Greek  cen- 
turion serving  in  the  Roman  army,  who  afterwards 
deserted  her  in  Galilee.  She  was  not  a  bad  woman ; 
like  so  many  others,  she  sinned  for  love's  sake,  for 
her  proud  Pharisee  father  would  never  have  con- 

367 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

sented  to  her  marriage  with  a  foreigner  and  an  op- 
pressor of  God's  chosen  people.  Thus  left  alone  in 
Galilee  and  driven  to  despair,  she  may  have  sunk 
into  a  life  of  shame.  The  statement  that  seven 
devils  were  afterwards  cast  out  of  her  implies  as 
much,  for  this  was  only  another  way  of  saying  that 
she  was  a  woman  of  abandoned  life  who  had  been 
recovered  from  her  evil  courses.  Somewhere  she 
must  have  met  with  Jesus  and  heard  His  word. 
Then,  possibly  by  arrangement,  she  followed  Him 
to  her  old  home  in  the  hope  of  being  forgiven.  This 
is  the  only  explanation  which  will  fit  the  facts  of  the 
first  anointing.  Jesus  sat  at  Simon's  board  wait- 
ing for  the  latter  to  show  some  sign  of  relenting  to- 
wards his  daughter  whom  he  had  cast  off  for  having 
wrought  folly  in  Israel.  The  sign  was  not  forth- 
coming, and  the  poor  penitent  began  to  weep  with 
grief  and  shame  as  she  stood  behind  the  only  friend 
who  had  shown  her  sympathy  and  understanding. 
As  her  tears  fell  upon  His  sacred  feet  she  stooped 
and  wiped  them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head  and 
anointed  them  from  the  alabaster  box  of  ointment 
she  carried  with  her.  The  hard  Pharisee  remained 
unmoved,  saying  only  to  himself  that  if  Jesus  were 
a  prophet  He  ought  to  have  known  the  character 
of  this  erring  daughter  of  a  pious  household  before 
admitting  her  to  the  number  of  His  disciples.  Jesus 
knew  what  was  passing  in  the  man's  mind,  and  with 
rising  indignation  rebuked  his  self-righteousness, 
declaring  that  this  woman  merited  forgiveness  if 
only  because  "she  loved  much,""  but  that  there 

^^Luke  vii.  47. 

S68 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

was  little  love  in  the  heart  of  the  discourteous  hosB 
who  had  omitted  all  warmth  of  welcome  from  his 
reception  of  the  wandering  teacher  and  the  group 
of  friends  who  journeyed  with  Him,  of  whom  Mary 
was  one. 

Who  was  this  Simon?  If  Simon  the  leper  of 
Matthew  and  Mark  were  the  owner  of  the  house 
(as  these  two  evangelists  say  he  was)  in  which  the 
second  anointing  took  place,  it  must  also  have  been 
the  house  of  Lazarus,  Mary,  and  Martha.  John 
clearly  suggests  this,  although  he  does  not  expressly 
state  it.  He  gives  us  to  understand  that  Lazarus 
was  host  on  the  occasion  and  tells  us  that  Martha 
did  the  serving.  Then  he  goes  on  to  describe  Mary's 
action  which  was  almost  a  precise  repetition  of  the 
earlier  anointing  described  by  Luke.  Was  it  a 
repetition  designedly  made  to  recall  the  former? 
Was  it  not  in  the  same  house?  And  she  was  inti- 
mate enough  with  the  Master  to  know — her  loyal 
affection  for  Him  and  womanly  sympathy  would 
make  her  aware  of  what  others  failed  to  see — that 
she  was,  indeed,  anointing  Jesus  to  His  burial. 

A  further  point  of  considerable  importance 
emerges  here.  St.  John  tells  us  that  Judas  Iscariot 
raised  strong  objection  to  the  waste  of  ointment 
on  the  ground  that  it  might  have  been  sold  for  three 
hundred  pence  and  given  to  the  poor.  Matthew  and 
Mark  mention  his  objection,  but  do  not  specially 
associate  Judas  with  it.  Here,  therefore,  we  have 
another  instance  in  which  the  fourth  gospel  throws 
light  upon  a  situation  which  would  otherwise  have 
remained   obscure.      John    says   Judas    spoke   as 

369 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

he  did  because  he  was  a  thief  and  had  con- 
trol of  the  common  purse;  but  is  there  not  some- 
thing deeper  behind  the  incident,  a  sad  and  tragical 
story?  Was  Judas  also  a  brother  of  the  inmates 
of  the  home  at  Bethany?  If  so,  it  would  explain  a 
good  deal.  It  is  noteworthy  that  he  is  said  to  have 
been  Simon's  son.  Simon  was  a  common  enough 
name,  but  it  would  hardly  have  been  mentioned  in 
this  connection — as  John  mentions  it  twice — except 
to  draw  attention  to  the  name.  Here  is  a  supper 
in  Simon's  house,  and  here  is  an  apostle  who  was 
Simon's  son.  What  can  this  mean  but  that  Judas 
belonged  to  the  family?  He  was  the  only  apostle 
who  came  from  the  south;  all  the^rest  were  from 
the  north.  He  and  his  Pharisee  father  may  at  first 
have  seen  in  Jesus  the  possible  hope  of  the  deliver- 
ance of  Israel,  though  they  may  never  have  thought 
of  Him  as  the  Messiah.  It  may  have  been  through 
the  connection  with  Judas  that  Jesus  ever  came 
to  be  a  guest  in  Simon's  house.  Now  that  the 
Pharisees  had  definitely  turned  against  Jesus, 
Judas  sided  with  his  father's  party  and  betrayed 
to  tliem  the  secret  of  Jesus'  claim  to  be  the  Messiah. 
This,  as  Schweitzer  says,  was  the  real  betrayal. 
The  restoration  of  Mary  and  the  friendship  with 
Lazarus  and  Martha,  so  far  from  pleasing  Simon, 
especially  after  the  public  rebuke  at  the  first  anoint- 
ing, would  be  likely  to  make  him  all  the  more  the 
enemy  of  Jesus,  and  through  Judas  he  and  his 
Pharisaic  associates  now  determined  to  put  an  end 
to  Jesus'  power  with  the  public*.     No  doubt  Judas 

12  Ut  sup.    Quest  of  the  Historical  Jews,  g.  389  ff» 

370 


12 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

was  genuinely  disappointed  with  the  outcome  of  the 
ministry  thus  far.  Jesus  would  seem  to  him  a  mere 
dreamer  whose  ideas  of  benefit  to  Israel  bore  no 
relation  to  the  national  hope  in  which  he  had  been 
trained.  Further  than  that,  he  had  now  become 
aware  that  Jesus  saw  through  him,  and,  as  gener- 
ally happens  in  such  a  case,  he  hated  the  INIaster 
both  for  His  discernment  and  the  spiritual  great- 
ness that  made  it  possible;  to  be  constantly  in  the 
presence  of  one  so  utterly  superior  to  himself  was 
galling  to  his  bad  heart.  He  may  honestly  have 
persuaded  himself  also  that  if  he  could  destroy 
this  disturber  of  the  public  mind,  this  scath- 
ing critic  of  the  national  religion  and  its  authorized 
exponents,  he  would  do  a  good  thing.  So  he  entered 
into  an  understanding  with  the  chief  priests  and 
the  scribes  to  betray  Jesus  into  their  hands. 

Events  of  Passion  Week 

After  the  triumphal  entry,  Jesus  proceeded  to 
the  second  cleansing  of  the  Temple,  and  for  some 
days  appeared  to  be  master  of  the  situation,  teach- 
ing daily  within  the  Temple  precincts,  the  Temple 
authorities  being  unable  to  forbid  Him.  His  de- 
nunciations of  Pharisaic  religion  now  became  in- 
creasingly stern,  and  His  prophecies  of  coming 
doom  to  Jerusalem  increasingly  explicit.  He  fore- 
tells the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  and  dwells  much 
upon  the  catastrophic  nature  of  the  divine  judg- 
ment which  is  to  take  place  before  the  end.  It  is 
not  easy  to  interpret  this  collection  of  sayings  to 

371 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

mean  other  than  that  the  Kingdom  in  its  fullness 
was  to  come  catastrophically  and  as  a  drastic  wind- 
up  to  the  existing  order  of  things  and  the 
beginning  of  another.  He  Himself,  as  the  Son  of 
Man  from  heaven,  was  to  be  revealed  in  glory  as 
the  agent  of  this  consummation  which  had  yet  to 
take  place.  To  some  extent  we  can  interpret  this 
forecast  metaphorically,  but  not  entirely  so.  John 
presents  a  rather  different  picture,  dwelling  less 
upon  the  world  crisis  to  come  than  upon  the  life 
eternal  which  is  Jesus'  precious  gift  to  His  own. 

The  Pharisees  and  Herodians  tried  hard  to  en- 
tangle Him  in  His  talk  in  order  to  have  something 
wherewith  to  accuse  Him,  such  as  in  the  question 
about  paying  tribute  to  Caesar.  A  doctor  of  the 
Law  questioned  Him  about  the  great  command- 
ment, and  Mark  says  that  the  questioner  was 
greatly  impressed  and  acknowledged  the  truth  of 
the  answer  he  received.  This  seems  to  have  been 
followed  by  a  question  addressed  by  Jesus  Him- 
self to  the  Pharisees,  "What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  '' 

All  three  of  the  synoptists  give  this,  which  evidently 

was  full  of  meaning.    It  was  an  attempt  to  evoke 

in  their  minds  the  thought  that  the  person  of  the 

Messiah  had  greater  significance  than  merely  that 

of  Davidic  descent.    Then  follow  the  denunciations 

and  woes  of  which  Matthew's  gospel  is  the  principal 

repository.     Jesus  was   careful  to   say  that   He 

Himself  did  not  know  when  all  these  things  would 

be  accomplished;  that  knowledge  was  reserved  for 

God  the  Father  alone.     All  the  parables  spoken 

13  Matt.  xxii.  41  #;  Mark  xii.  35  #;  Luke  xx.  41  ff. 

372 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

in  this  final  phase  of  the  ministry  are  eschatological 
in  their  bearing.  Matthew  records  that  of  the  ten 
virgins,  and  in  the  same  connection  that  of  the  man 
travehng  in  a  far  country  who  left  his  servants  in 
charge ;  Mark's  version  of  this  is  very  short.  Luke 
has  the  same  idea  in  the  parable  of  the  pounds  said 
to  have  been  uttered  earlier.  It  is  Matthew  again 
who  records  the  parable  of  the  last  judgment,  per- 
haps (as  we  have  seen  reason  to  infer)  an  altered 
Jewish  apocalypse  with  its  figure  of  the  Messianic 
king  as  judge;  but  no  orthodox  Jew  would  have 
given  it  the  universal  application  that  Jesus  does  or 
made  the  judgment  turn  upon  purely  ethical  issues. 
Events  now  proceed  in  the  following  order.  Two 
days  before  the  feast  of  the  Passover  a  meeting  of 
influential  members  of  the  Sanhedrin  was  held  at 
the  house  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest,  wherein  it 
was  decided  to  have  Jesus  arrested,  but  not  during 
the  feast.  Judas  arranged  to  lead  the  Temple 
police  to  a  point  where  they  could  succeed 
in  obtaining  possession  of  Jesus'  person  quietly 
without  interruption  from  the  mob.  It  is  Mark 
who  tells  the  beautiful  story,  confirmed  by  Luke, 
of  the  way  in  which  the  upper  room  was  ob- 
tained where  Jesus  meant  to  eat  the  Passover  with 
His  disciples.  We  gather  from  the  facts  as  given 
that  the  owner  of  this  room  was  one  of  the  fairly 
numerous  unnamed  friends  of  Jesus  of  whose  exist- 
ence we  have  many  scattered  hints  throughout  the 
gospels,  and  that  he  and  the  Master  had  already 
settled  that  the  latter  was  to  have  the  use  of  the 
room  for  the  paschal  meal.    The  synoptics  and  the 

373 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

fourth  gospel  are  apparently  at  variance  with  each 
other  concerning  the  hour  when  the  Last  Supper 
took  place  and  what  its  character  was.  The  critical 
difficulties  are  very  serious,  and  perhaps  it  is  impos- 
sible with  our  present  data  to  arrive  at  a  full  and 
final  conclusion  concerning  them.  Was  the  liord's 
Supper,  a;s  Christians  call  it,  a  Passover  supper,  or 
was  it  not?  Some  critics  hold  that  the  fourth  gos- 
pel deliberately  corrects  the  others  here,  but  there  is 
nothing  to  prove  that  that  is  so,  nor  is  the  discrep- 
ancy between  them  as  absolute  as  at  first  sight  ap- 
pears. The  first  three  gospels  represent  Jesus  as 
eating  the  Passover  with  the  apostles;  Luke  says 
that  the  Lord  Himself  described  it  as  a  Passover. 
John,  on  the  other  hand,  has  it  that  His  accusers 
some  hours  later  refused  to  enter  Pilate's  judgment 
hall  lest  they  should  be  defiled  as  they  had  not  eaten 
the  Passover.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the 
meal  which  Jesus  and  His  disciples  had  together  in 
the  upper  room  was  only  figuratively  a  Passover ;  in 
instituting  the  Lord's  Supper  Jesus  deliberately 
intended  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  His  follow- 
ers that  the  old  dispensation  was  henceforth  to  be 
superceded.  There  is  no  mention  of  any  lamb  as 
there  naturally  ought  to  have  been  if  the  meal  in 
question  was  the  regular  Jewish  Passover;  Jesus 
was  Himself  the  lamb  that  was  about  to  be  slain. 
The  Passover  lambs  were  killed  by  the  priests  in  the 
late  afternoon  of  the  fourteenth  Nisan  and  eaten 
in  the  early  hours  of  the  fifteenth.  Jesus  was  ac- 
tually dead  before  the  hours  arrived  between  which 
the  paschal  lambs  must  be  consumed,  so  we  can  only 

374 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

conclude  that  the  meal  which  He  ate  with  His  dis- 
ciples was  the  occasion  of  the  institution  of  the 
Christian  Passover,  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  was 
not,  and  was  not  intended  to  be,  even  by  anticipa- 
tion an  observance  of  the  Jewish  Passover. 

All  the  synoptics  are  agreed  about  the  fact  of 
Jesus'  intimation  of  the  impending  betrayal  and  of 
Peter's  defection,  but  it  is  to  the  fourth  gospel  that 
we  must  look  for  the  most  detailed  information 
here:  only  an  eyewitness  could  have  furnished  de- 
scriptions so  minute  in  certain  particulars  and 
withal  so  illuminating  and  so  impressive  in  their 
verisimilitude.  Thus  we  gather  that  the  position 
was  around  the  table.  The  company  reclined  in 
the  usual  oriental  fashion,  each  person  on  his  left 
side  with  feet  outward  and  with  the  right  hand  free 
to  reach  to  the  dish  placed  in  the  center.  The  head 
of  each  member  of  the  company  would  thus  lean 
towards  the  right  breast  of  the  person  on  his  left, 
though,  of  course,  without  actually  touching  it. 
From  John's  narrative  it  is  apparent  that  he  him- 
self was  placed  on  the  Master's  right  and  Judas  on 
the  left.  John,  the  youngest  member  of  the  party, 
was  privileged  to  take  the  affectionate  liberty  of 
lying  so  close  to  Jesus  that  he  could  lay  his  head  on 
the  latter's  bosom  as  he  ate ;  Jesus'  arm  might  thus 
have  to  pass  around  John's  neck  in  order  at  certain 
moments  to  touch  the  table.  It  was  a  custom  also  as 
an  occasional  courtesy  for  one  person  to  hand  a 
choice  morsel  to  another  as  the  meal  proceeded,  and 
this  also  is  alluded  to  in  the  story  in  a  very  touching 
way.    When  the  Master  made  His  announcement 

375 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

that  one  of  those  present  at  that  very  board  was 
about  to  betray  Him  to  His  enemies,  consternation 
followed  together  with  the  appeal  from  every  one 
individually,  "Lord,  is  it  I?""  This  seems  a 
strange  question  for  any  intimate  of  Jesus  to  ask, 
especially  under  the  circumstances,  and  it  is  only 
to  be  accounted  for  on  the  hypothesis  that  they 
thought  it  applied  to  the  future,  not  the  present, 
and  that  no  such  conspiracy  existed  as  Judas  had 
already  entered  into.  Each  member  of  the  apos- 
tolic band  was  anxious  to  be  assured  at  once  that 
under  no  temptation  could  He  ever  play  his  Master 
false. 

We  can  only  understand  the  succeeding  develop- 
ments, as  given  even  in  the  synoptics,  from  the  Jo- 
hannine  particulars  indicated  above.  Peter,  placed 
near  John,  seems  to  have  whispered  to  the  latter 
to  ask  Jesus  directly  who  the  betrayer  was.  It  was 
easy  for  John  to  do  this  without  being  heard  by 
the  others,  and  easy  for  Jesus  to  make  the  low  re- 
ply: "He  it  is  to  whom  I  shall  give  a  sop,  when  I 
have  dipped  it."  ^°     Thereupon  Jesus  reached  for  a 

piece  of  bread,  dipped  it  in  the  center  dish,  and 
handed  it  to  Judas.  It  was  a  last  appeal  to  the 
heart  of  the  betrayer.  Their  eyes  met  as  the  little 
courtesy  was  rendered;  then  those  of  Judas  hard- 
ened; "Satan  entered  into  him";  and  the  Master 
gravely  and  solemnly  added,  "That  thou  doest  do 
quickly."  They  understood  each  other,  though,  as 
John  states,  no  one  else  knew  of  the  moral  tragedy 

1*  Mark  xiv.  19.  ^^  John  xiii.  26. 

376 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

that  was  taking  place,  but  supposed  that  Judas  was 
being  instructed  to  go  out  and  buy  what  was  re- 
quired for  the  paschal  feast.  Rising  instantly,  he 
went,  Jesus  alone  knowing  upon  what  sinister  er- 
rand. 

But  before  this  somber  moment  was  reached, 
Jesus  had  done  an  unexpected  and  impressive  thing. 
He  had  risen  from  supper  and  gone  round  the  table 
washing  the  disciples'  feet  despite  their  protests 
that  it  was  unseemly  that  He  should  perform  an 
office  so  humble.  It  is  worth  remembering  that 
Judas  was  still  present  when  this  was  done  and, 
therefore,  present  when  it  was  explained.  The 
mutual  rivalries  of  these  simple  men,  as  Luke  tells 
us,  continued  even  into  the  upper  room.  James 
and  John  had  not  been  forgiven  for  their  self- 
seeking  attempt  to  steal  a  march  on  the  others.  All 
were  full  of  the  recollection  of  the  triumphal  entry 
and  the  great  things  it  seemed  to  portend:  Peter 
especially,  we  may  fairly  assume,  judging  by  the 
vehemence  of  his  protests  a  few  moments  later,  was 
jealous  of  his  privilege  as  the  appointed  leader  of 
the  rest,  the  rock  on  which  the  Church  was  to  be 
built,  whatever  that  might  mean.  "Thou  shalt 
never  wash  my  feet,"  he  declared,  but  immediately 
recanted  when  told,  "If  I  wash  thee  not  thou  hast 
no  part  with  me."  ^^  Not  for  the  first  time,  but  by 
means  of  this  acted  parable  more  impressively  than 
ever  before,  Jesus  now  reminds  these  wondering 
men  that  precedence  in  the  things  of  God  is  won 
by  humility  of  heart  and  wilHngness  to  serve.    "Ye 

"/fclU  8. 

377 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

call  me  Master  and  Lord;  and  ye  say  well,  for  so 
I  am.  If  I  then,  your  Lord  and  Master,  have 
washed  your  feet;  ye  also  ought  to  wash  one  an- 
other's feet.  For  I  have  given  you  an  example, 
that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you."  '^^  The 
new  commandment,  to  love  one  another,  was  uttered 
as  soon  as  Judas  left  the  room.  At  the  same  in- 
stance the  Master  announced  His  coming  with- 
drawal from  their  midst.  "Lord,  whither  goest 
thou?"  ^^  was  Peter's  prompt  inquiry,  and  it  is  in 
this  connection  that  the  fourth  gospel  places  the 
protestation  of  loyalty  which  drew  from  Jesus  the 
terrible  announcement,  "The  cock  shall  not  crow 
till  thou  hast  denied  me  thrice."  *^  There  is  a  slight 
variation  in  form  between  this  version  of  the  proph- 
ecy and  that  of  the  earlier  gospels,  but  its  effect  is 
the  same.  Mark's  account  suggests,  and  is  sus- 
tained by  Matthew,  that  this  colloquy  did  not  take 
place  till  they  had  left  the  upper  room  and  gone 
out  of  the  city  towards  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and 
that  the  introduction  to  it  was  Jesus'  announce- 
ment that  they  would  all  desert  Him  that  same 
night.  Luke  comes  nearer  to  John :  "And  the  Lord 
said,  Simon,  Simon,  behold,  Satan  hath  desired  to 
have  you,  that  he  may  sift  you  as  wheat :  but  I  have 
prayed  for  thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not;  and  when 
thou  art  turned  again,  strengthen  thy  brethren. 
And  he  said  unto  him.  Lord,  I  am  ready  to  go 
with  thee,  both  into  prison,  and  to  death.  And  he 
said,  I  tell  thee,  Peter,  the  cock  shall  not  crow  this 

"/&jU  13-15.  -^^Ibid.  36.  19/&1U  38. 

378 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

day,  before  that  thou  shalt  thrice  deny  that  thou 
knowest  me."  ^° 

On  the  whole  it  would  seem  more  probable  that 
the  order  as  given  in  the  fourth  gospel  is  correct, 
for  the  beautiful  discourses  contained  in  chapters 
fourteen  to  seventeen  depend  closely  upon  the  con- 
versation just  mentioned.  For  example,  words  of 
Thomas  are  quoted  to  the  effect  that  as  they  did  not 
know  whither  He  was  going  they  could  not  know 
the  way.  For  answer  Jesus  went  on  to  prepare 
them  for  the  removal  of  His  bodily  presence  and 
the  inauguration  of  a  spiritual  fellowship,  closer 
and  more  intense  than  that  which  was  now  coming 
to  an  end.  He  tells  them  they  will  have  to  suffer 
and  endure  much  evil  in  the  world,  but  that  in  Him 
they  will  overcome.  And  then  He  significantly 
adds :  "These  things  have  I  told  you,  that  when  the 
time  shall  come,  ye  may  remember  that  I  told  you 
of  them.  And  these  things  I  said  not  unto  you  at 
the  beginning,  because  I  was  with  you.  But  now  I 
go  my  way  to  him  that  sent  me;  and  none  of  you 
asketh  me,  Whither  goest  thou?  But  because  I 
have  said  these  things  unto  you,  sorrow  hath  filled 
your  heart."  "  The  fact  is  they  were  utterly  dis- 
mayed ;  this  was  not  at  all  what  they  had  expected, 
as  we  have  already  seen.  They  had  begun  by  in- 
quiring, "Whither  goest  thou?"  but  as  the  discourse 
proceeded  their  misgivings  deepened  until  they 
quite  forgot  their  original  question,  the  one  thought 
uppermost  in  all  minds  being  that  in  some  fell  way 

20  Luke  xxii.  31  ff.  21  John  xvi.  4-6. 

379 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

they  were  about  to  lose  their  Master ;  they  were  not 
ready  to  talk  about  any  higher  relationship  as  com- 
pensating them  in  any  degree  for  the  ending  of  the 
fellowship  they  had  enjoyed  for  the  past  two  or 
three  years  and  which  had  been  more  precious  to 
them  than  they  yet  realized.  In  gentle  depreca- 
tion of  their  gloom  the  Master  suggests  that  they 
ought  to  press  their  question,  "Whither  goest 
thou?"  For  that  was  the  whole  point.  If  they 
could  be  got  to  understand  that  the  coming  passion 
was  not  the  last  word,  but  that  there  was  a  glory 
beyond  and  a  triumph  to  be  won  which  would  trans- 
cend their  highest  imaginings  of  the  future,  it  would 
save  them  from  grim  depths  of  sorrow  and  despair. 
In  words  of  tender  exhortation  He  bids  them  be  of 
good  comfort.  "These  things  have  I  spoken  unto 
you,  that  in  me  ye  might  have  peace.  In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation.  But,  be  of  good  cheer ;  I 
have  overcome  the  world."  ^^  The  valedictory  dis- 
course  closes,  as  indeed  seems  fitting,  with  the  beau- 
tiful prayer  in  the  seventeenth  chapter,  and  the  syn- 
optics say,  with  a  hymn,  after  which  they  went  over 
the  brook  Kidron  to  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane. 
To  whom  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  belonged 
cannot  now  be  ascertained.  That  it  was  on  or  near 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  on  the  further  side  of  the 
brook  just  mentioned,  is  evident  from  the  statement 
of  all  four  gospels.  The  traditional  site  may  be 
correct.  John  says  that  Jesus  often  resorted  thither 
with  His  disciples,  and,  therefore,  that  Judas  knew 
the  place.     Some  friend  of  the  Master  must  have 

22/&id.  33. 

380 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

afforded  Him  this  place  of  retreat  where  He  could 
obtain  rest  and  quiet  after  His  exhausting  labors 
and  controversies  in  the  city  without  His  having 
always  to  go  out  as  far  as  Bethany.  It  may  have 
belonged  to  Lazarus,  but,  judging  from  one  brief 
passage  in  INIark's  story  of  the  arrest,  there  seems 
some  probability  that  it  belonged  to  INIark's  mother 
who,  as  we  learn  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  was 
a  lady  of  some  substance  whose  house  in  Jerusalem 
afterwards  became  a  rendezvous  for  members  of 
the  infant  Christian  Church. 

Leaving  the  other  members  of  the  apostolic  band 
in  one  part  of  the  garden,  Jesus  took  Peter,  James, 
and  John  to  another  and  more  retired  spot  that  He 
might  prepare  Himself  by  prayer  for  the  coming 
trial.  Nothing  is  more  pathetic  in  the  whole  gos- 
pel record  than  the  Master's  craving  for  sympathy 
in  this  hour  of  dreadful  waiting.  He  turned  to 
these  three  intimate  friends  for  it,  but  they  failed 
Him.  He  asked  them  to  watch,  possibly  lest  He 
should  be  taken  by  surprise  when  the  betrayer  and 
the  officers  came,  and  then  He  withdrew  from  them 
about  a  stone's  cast  and,  falling  on  the  ground, 
poured  forth  His  soul  in  agonized  entreaty  to  His 
Father  in  heaven,  praying  that  He  might  be  spared 
the  bitter  cup  of  shame  and  horror  which  He  had 
now  to  drink.  Three  times  He  came  and  went 
between  this  place  of  solitary  anguish  and  the  three 
apostles,  and  each  time  He  found  them  asleep. 
What  a  strange  lack  of  understanding  of  the  ex- 
tremity to  which  their  beloved  Master  had  been  re- 
duced!    Gently  He  reproached  them  with  their 

381 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

failure ;  they  had  promised  many  things ;  could  they 
not  at  least  have  watched  by  Him  for  one  single 
hour?  Luke  says  they  were  sleeping  for  sorrow — 
a  strange  expression  which  may  have  a  little  truth 
in  it;  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  period  of 
anxiety  and  strain  through  which  they  had  all  re- 
cently passed  had  left  these  men  untouched  and 
altogether  uncomprehending.  They  did  not  know 
what  was  coming,  and  apparently  Jesus  did  not  tell 
them,  but  they  were  full  of  grief  at  the  prospect  of 
separation  from  Him,  and  tired  nature  at  last 
yielded  to  the  strain  and  they  slept.  There  was  no 
sleep  for  Jesus.  It  was  not  merely  the  prospect 
of  a  shameful  death  that  daunted  Him;  there  was 
the  whole  mystery  of  the  seeming  collapse  of  His 
hopes  and  of  His  mission  to  the  world.  Perhaps 
there  is  a  deeper  depth  still  in  this  dread  experience 
which  human  wisdom  cannot  fathom.  His  previous 
utterances  show  that  He  knew  of  the  ultimate 
triumph,  as  well  as  the  present  passion,  but  appar- 
ently in  the  latter  He  was  compelled  for  a  time  to 
lose  sight  of  the  former.  He  could  do  no  more 
than  submit  without  understanding,  and  this  at 
length  He  did.  "O  my  Father,"  He  cried,  "if  this 
cup  may  not  pass  away  from  me  except  I  drink  it. 
Thy  will  be  done."  ^^  "Watch  and  pray,"  was  His 
warning  to  the  sleeping  disciples,  "that  ye  enter 
not  into  temptation,"  compassionately  adding  in  the 
same  breath,  "The  spirit  indeed  is  willing  but  the 
flesh  is  weak."  ^*  Perhaps  this  last  sentence  re- 
ferred to  Himself  as  much  as  to  them. 

23  Matt.  xxvi.  42,  24  Ji^j^j^  41, 

383 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

Hardly  was  it  uttered  before  Judas  and  the 
Temple  police  arrived,  a  strong  band  of  men  with 
lanterns  and  torches  and  weapons.  The  signal  of 
identification  was  to  be  a  kiss.  The  kiss  of  Judas 
has  now  become  a  proverb,  but  that  it  could  be  given 
as  though  customary  shows  the  terms  on  which  the 
Master  stood  with  His  intimate  followers.  "Com- 
rade!" was  His  only  comment  in  this  instance, 
"wherefore  art  thou  come?"^^ — an  address  which 
ought  to  have  pierced  the  traitor's  heart,  and  per- 
haps did.  Peter  offered  some  show  of  resistance, 
but  Jesus  forbade  it,  healing  with  a  touch  the  ser- 
vant of  the  high  priest  whom  he  had  wounded.  The 
panic-stricken  disciples  waited  for  no  more,  but  in- 
stantly fled.  Peter  and  John,  together  or  sepa- 
rately, recovered  themselves  sufficiently  to  follow 
the  procession  at  a  safe  distance,  and  presently, 
through  some  influence  which  the  younger  man  pos- 
sessed with  the  high  priest,  were  able  to  come  into 
the  palace  itself  to  observe  what  happened  to  their 
Master  who  was  now  so  strangely  helpless  in  the 
hands  of  His  foes. 

A  point  to  which  attention  should  be  directed 
suggests  itself  here.  Who  heard  the  threefold 
praj^er  in  Gethsemane  and  witnessed  the  mysterious 
agony  which  has  since  so  impressed  the  imagination 
of  Christendom  in  all  ages  ?  It  could  not  have  been 
Peter  and  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee,  for  they  are 
said  to  have  been  asleep.  We  cannot  easily  picture 
Jesus  Himself  as  the  narrator  after  the  resurrec- 
tion.    Yet  here  is  some  one  who  observed  closely 

2s/&jd.  60. 

383 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

and  sympathetically  what  He  did  and  remembered 
what  He  said  likewise.  Who  could  it  have  been 
but  the  young  man  with  a  linen  cloth  cast  about 
his  naked  body  whom  Mark  describes  as  present  at 
the  final  scene  and  following  so  closely  that  the 
Master's  captors  tried  to  arrest  him,  too,  and  he 
only  escaped  by  leaving  the  linen  cloth  in  their 
hands  and  fleeing  naked  into  the  night?  There 
could  be  no  purpose  in  inserting  this  in  every  little 
detail  had  it  not  possessed  a  special  interest  for  the 
writer.  Was  it  not  Mark  himself?  If  so,  he  alone 
in  history  was  privileged  to  watch  by  Jesus  while 
others  slept  and  to  listen  to  the  words  wrung  from 
His  tortured  lips  in  the  moment  of  His  greatest 
human  need  and  most  solitary  conflict.  The  con- 
text suggests  that  the  young  man  was  in  bed  and 
asleep  on  the  premises  when  Jesus  and  His  dis- 
ciples entered  the  garden,  and  having  awakened  he 
arose,  feeling  that  something  unusual  was  afoot, 
and,  throwing  a  loose  garment  around  him,  stole 
softly  through  the  trees  in  the  direction  of  the  little 
group.  Standing  amid  the  shadows  he  saw  and 
heard  everj^thing;  a  vigil  never  to  be  forgotten  to 
his  dying  day.  It  is  to  him  that  we  are  indebted 
for  what  would  otherwise  never  have  been  told. 

Concerning  the  sequence  of  events  on  that  dread- 
ful night,  John  is  our  best  authority.  Jesus  was 
taken  first  to  the  house  of  Annas,  father-in-law  of 
Caiaphas  the  high  priest;  Annas  without  delay 
sent  Him  bound  as  He  was  into  the  presence  of 
Caiaphas.  Here,  while  He  was  being  interrogated, 
Peter  stood  warming  himself  at  a  fire  kindled  in 

884 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

the  courtyard.  One  of  the  maids  of  the  high  priest 
and,  the  fourth  gospel  says,  a  kinsman  of  the  ser- 
vant Peter  had  assaulted  in  the  garden,  became  sus- 
picious of  Peter's  identity  and  accused  him  of  being 
associated  with  Jesus,  which  he  vehemently  denied. 
His  Galilean  accent,  however,  made  them  press  the 
question,  and  they  continued  to  do  so  until  at  length 
with  cursing  and  swearing  he  denied  all  knowledge 
of  the  accused,  whereupon  Jesus  turned  and  looked 
at  him  and  the  cock  crew.  That  look  was  more  than 
the  poor  cowardly  fisherman  could  bear.  A  flood 
of  recollection  swept  over  him,  regarding  his  brag- 
gart professions  in  the  upper  room  and  Jesus'  strik- 
ing prophecy  of  what  he  would  actually  do  when 
the  testing  time  came.  With  bursting  heart  and 
overwhelmed  with  shame  he  instantly  made  his  way 
outside  and  wept  in  hopeless  sorrow.  His  humilia- 
tion was  as  deep  as  his  repentance  was  sincere,  and, 
so  far  as  he  knew  then,  it  must  have  appeared  cer- 
tain that  he  would  never  have  an  opportunity  to 
retrieve  his  fall  or  take  his  place  again  by  the  side 
of  the  being  he  loved  best  on  earth. 

Jesus  Put  to  Death 

During  the  rest  of  the  night  Jesus  remained  in 
the  high  priest's  house  exposed  to  insult  and  ill- 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  palace  retinue.  A 
hastily  summoned  session  of  the  leading  members 
of  the  Sanhedrin  was  convened — it  is  improbable 
that  it  was  a  formally  constituted  assembly  of  that 
important  body — and  in  their  presence  the  high 

385 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

priest  examined  Jesus  on  the  various  counts  in  the 
indictment  brought  against  Him.  It  is  remarkable 
that  no  witnesses  could  be  produced  who  could  sub- 
stantiate any  charge  worthy  of  the  capital  sentence. 
They  contradicted  one  another,  and  twisted  the 
Master's  words  about  destroying  the  Temple  so  as 
to  give  them  a  sinister  application,  but  no  definite 
accusation  could  be  framed.  Had  it  not  been  for 
Jesus  Himself  they  would  have  been  utterly  with- 
out any  tangible  ground  on  which  to  bring  Him  be- 
fore the  Roman  governor  with  a  request  for  his  exe- 
cution, and  without  the  sanction  of  the  Roman 
authority  they  could  not  have  put  Him  to  death. 
But  Jesus  supplied  the  evidence  they  wanted.  He 
remained  silent  on  all  the  minor  charges,  but  when 
at  length  the  high  priest  suddenly  sprang  the  ques- 
tion upon  Him  whether  He  were  in  truth  the  Mes- 
siah He  boldly  acknowledged  it  and  went  on  to 
affirm  that  they  should  yet  see  Him  coming  in 
power  and  glory  to  judge  the  world.  This  was 
all  the  high  priest  wanted,  and  it  is  evident  that  he 
was  somehow  already  acquainted  with  the  facts, — 
probably  through  Judas,  as  stated  above.  Rising 
in  pretended  consternation  at  what  he  called  this 
blasphemy,  he  declared  that  no  more  witnesses  were 
necessary  for  the  culprit  was  now  condemned  out 
of  His  own  mouth.  The  rest  of  the  council  agree- 
ing with  him,  it  was  determined  to  bring  Jesus 
before  Pilate  without  delay  as  a  dangerous  fomen- 
ter  of  sedition  against  constituted  authority.  They 
had  to  give  a  political  turn  to  His  pretensions  in 
order  to  induce  Pilate  to  take  cognizance  of  them. 

386 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

Messiahship  must  be  construed  as  a  claim  to  secular 
kingship  in  insurrection  against  the  Roman  power. 
As  early  as  possible  in  the  morning  this  was  done, 
and  the  method  of  procedure  was  somewhat  curious. 
As  this  was  the  day  of  preparation  for  the  Pass- 
over, the  accusers  would  not  enter  into  the  judg- 
ment hall  lest  they  should  be  ceremonially  defiled 
and,  therefore,  precluded  from  eating  the  paschal 
meal  in  the  evening.  Pilate  had  to  come  out  in 
front  of  the  pr^etorium  to  hsten  to  the  accusation, 
but  he  seems  to  have  questioned  Jesus  in  private 
within  the  hall  itself.  It  did  not  take  him  long  to 
realize  that  the  ostensible  ground  of  accusation  was 
not  the  true  one.  Priests  and  scribes  would  not 
have  been  so  venomous  in  their  opposition  to  a  real 
rebel  against  the  Roman  power  or  pretender  to  the 
throne  of  Israel,  there  must  be  something  else.  In 
reply  to  the  governor's  demand  to  know  if  He  were 
indeed  a  king  the  strange  prisoner  unhesitatingly 
avowed  it,  but  added  that  His  Kingdom  were  not 
of  this  world.  Pilate  was  so  deeply  impressed  by 
Jesus'  demeanor  that  he  tried  hard  to  save  Him, 
first  sending  Him  to  Herod  to  get  Him  away  from 
the  rancorous  Temple  priesthood  and  their  allies, 
and  then  when  that  failed  offering  in  accordance 
with  custom  to  free  either  Jesus  or  some  other 
prisoner  as  a  compliment  to  the  Jews  on  the  occa- 
sion of  their  great  national  feast.  The  alternative 
he  suggested  was  Barabbas,  a  brigand  and  mur- 
derer who  was  awaiting  execution.  He  supposed 
there  could  be  no  question  M'hich  would  be  desired, 
but  he  was  soon  undeceived.    The  mob,  at  the  insti- 

387 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

gation  of  the  priests,  demanded  Barabbas.  Herod 
had  long  been  desirous  to  see  Jesus,  and  as  he  hap- 
pened to  be  in  Jerusalem  just  then,  Pilate,  on  the 
plea  that  Jesus  belonged  to  his  jurisdiction,  sug- 
gested that  he  should  take  Him  away  and  judge 
Him,  but  the  priests  and  scribes  were  determined 
not  to  lose  sight  of  their  victim.  They  pursued 
Him  with  their  accusations  before  Herod  also,  and 
that  crafty  potentate,  after  mocking  and  scourging 
his  silent  prisoner,  sent  Him  back  again  to  Pilate 
who  then  weakly  consented  to  allow  Him  to  be 
crucified. 

Once  again  before  passing  sentence  in  the  teeth 
of  his  own  convictions,  the  Roman  governor  tried 
to  excite  the  compassion  of  the  fanatical  rabble  by 
bringing  Jesus  out  to  them  after  He  had  been 
scourged  and  maltreated  by  the  brutal  Roman  sol- 
diers in  the  judgment  hall.  This  scourging  was 
one  of  the  most  dreadful  punishments  ever  invented, 
the  victim's  body  being  lacerated  in  the  most  sick- 
ening manner  by  thongs  and  rods.  In  mockery  of 
His  supposed  claims  to  royal  dignity,  Jesus  was 
clothed  in  a  purple  robe  and  a  crown  of  thorns  was 
plaited  and  hammered  down  upon  His  head.  A 
forlorn  and  ghastly  spectacle,  indeed,  was  that  of 
the  suffering  Savior  as  Pilate  led  Him  forth  in 
view  of  the  multitude,  "Behold  the  man!"  ^^  he  said. 
"Crucify  Him,  crucify  Him!"  "^  was  the  instant  and 
savage  response.  Pilate's  last  attempt  had  failed. 
Taking  a  basin  of  water  he  washed  his  hands  be- 

26  John  xix.  5.  27  j^d.  6. 

388 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

fore  them,  exclaiming  "I  am  innocent  of  the  blood 
of  this  just  man,  see  ye  to  it."  ^^  "His  blood  be  on 
us  and  on  our  children"  ^^  was  the  awful  rejoinder, 
a  self-invoked  judgment  fulfilled  to  the  last  degree 
upon  the  guilty  nation  in  days  to  come. 

That  Pilate  had  had  many  misgivings  concern- 
ing the  piece  of  wickedness  he  was  now  permitting 
to  be  perpetrated,  and  for  which  he  in  vain  tried  to 
divest  himself  of  responsibility,  is  perhaps  illus- 
trated by  his  wife's  dream.  What  the  dream  was 
is  not  stated,  but  that  it  filled  her  with  terror  and 
foreboding  is  evident  from  her  message  to  her  hus- 
band entreating  him  not  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  murder  of  one  so  holy.  Did  she  know  any- 
thing of  Jesus  personally?  It  is  not  impossible. 
Herod's  own  foster  brother  was  one  of  the  earliest 
Christian  converts,  and  other  members  of  the  court 
are  said  to  have  been  of  Jesus'  immediate  following. 
But  it  is  at  least  equally  probable  that  Pilate  had 
not  concealed  from  her  his  uneasiness  at  the  course 
events  were  taking  and  his  contempt  for  the  ma- 
licious gang  who  were  engineering  it  for  their  own 
wicked  ends.  The  matter  so  preyed  upon  her  mind 
that  night  that  some  warning  of  the  enormity  of  the 
contemplated  crime  came  to  her  in  sleep  and,  in 
consequence,  she  vainly  endeavored  to  stand  be- 
tween her  husband  and  its  commission.  Pilate's 
symbolical  hand-washing  was  the  result.  This 
dream  must  have  been  in  the  day  rather  than  the 
night,  for  Jesus  was  brought  before  Pilate  early  in 

28  Matt,  xxvii.  24.  29  Ibid.  25. 

389 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

the  morning  and  was  dead  before  the  next  night 
came. 

The  question  has  sometimes  been  asked,  What 
had  now  become  of  the  multitude  that  had  wel- 
comed Jesus  to  Jerusalem  with  hosannas  only  a  few 
days  before  and  on  account  of  which  the  Temple 
authorities  had  been  afraid  to  seize  Jesus  openly? 
How  was  it  that  the  only  multitude  of  which  we 
hear  anything  from  the  moment  of  His  arrest  is 
one  that  is  savagely  hostile  to  Him?  Had  the  same 
mob  that  had  acclaimed  Him  now  turned  against 
Him,  or  what  ?  We  need  not  go  far  for  the  expla- 
nation. It  is  fully  in  accordance  with  mob  psychol- 
ogy that  as  long  as  a  person  is  powerful  and  mas- 
ter of  the  movement  of  events  he  should  be  visited 
with  every  species  of  homage  and  applause,  but 
let  him  show  himself  vulnerable  and  at  once  he 
becomes  an  object  of  popular  execration.  It  is  a 
strange  and  saddening  phase  of  human  nature  this, 
but  undeniable  as  history  abundantly  testifies. 
Nevertheless,  we  may  be  perfectly  sure  that  there 
were  many,  especially  among  the  Galileans,  who 
had  come  up  to  Jerusalem  for  the  Passover  and  of 
those  who  had  witnessed  or  become  acquainted  with 
the  miracle  of  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  who  never 
turned  against  the  Savior  in  His  hour  of  derelic- 
tion and  woe,  but,  like  the  disciples  themselves, 
were  dismayed  and  taken  by  surprise.  The  priests 
and  Pharisees  had  calculated  rightly.  Once  Jesus 
was  in  their  power  there  was  no  more  to  fear; 
His  friends  had  no  leader  and  no  rallying  center; 
the  blow  struck  and  the  Master  condemned,  there 

890 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

was  no  one  strong  enough  to  act  on  His  behalf. 
How  could  they?  It  would  be  acting  against  all- 
powerful  Rome.  Besides,  much  of  the  very  public 
confidence  in  Jesus  sprang  from  a  feeling  that  He 
was  superior  to  every  ill  that  could  be  devised 
against  Him.  When  this  was  proved  not  to  be  so 
all  who  wished  Him  well  would  conclude  that  His 
cause  was  irretrievably  lost. 

The  dreadful  procession  took  its  way  towards 
Calvary,  a  hillock  outside  the  city  whereon  crimi- 
nals were  crucified.  Jesus,  as  was  the  custom  with 
those  condemned  to  this  sort  of  punishment,  was 
compelled  to  bear  His  own  cross,  but  faint  from 
anguish  and  loss  of  blood  He  sank  under  its  weight 
and  a  passer-by  named  Simon,  from  Cyrene  in 
North  Africa,  was  laid  hold  of  by  the  soldiers  and 
made  to  carry  it  in  His  stead  or  along  with  Him. 
The  form  of  Luke's  narrative  would  suggest  that 
they  supported  it  together,  Simon  following  behind 
the  sufferer.  Mark  says  this  Simon  was  the  father 
of  Alexander  and  Rufus,  two  members  of  the  apos- 
tolic Church,  and  there  is  an  early  tradition  that  he 
was  himself  a  Christian.  Whv  was  he  forced  into 
this  sad  service,  a  service  which  yet  will  be  his  pe- 
culiar glory  to  the  end  of  time?  Was  it  that  his 
captors  saw  in  his  face  some  compassion  for  the 
condemned;  did  he  venture  to  express  it;  was  he, 
pilgrim  from  a  distant  clime  though  he  might  be, 
himself  a  disciple  and  friend  of  the  Master?  Per- 
haps ;  we  do  not  know. 

Arrived  at  the  place  of  death,  Jesus  was  stripped 
and  stretched  upon  the  cross ;  there  were  those  who 

391 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

followed  Him  to  the  last,  principally  women,  some 
of  them  of  cruel  Jerusalem  itself,  who  openly  wept 
in  pity  for  His  fate;  and  at  the  cross  His  mother 
stood,  the  sword  of  which  Simeon  had  spoken  in 
the  Temple  long  before  piercing  through  her  an- 
guished heart  as  her  august  Son  hung  in  torture 
above.  Over  the  sufferer's  head  was  affixed  the  rea- 
son of  His  condemnation,  in  three  languageis,  by  Pil- 
ate's order:  "This  is  Jesus  the  king  of  the  Jews."  ^° 
'No  doubt  Pilate  intended  this  as  a  gibe  at  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  nation  which  had  thus  worked 
their  evil  will  upon  one  worthier  than  themselves, 
and  they  are  said  to  have  protested  against  it. 
There  is  some  discrepancy  between  the  synoptical 
gospels  and  the  fourth  on  the  question  of  the  actual 
hour  of  the  crucifixion  and  how  long  it  was  before 
the  end  came,  but  perhaps  the  method  of  calculat- 
ing is  different  in  each  case.  Bitter  were  the  taunts 
leveled  at  Him,  meanest  of  all  the  cry:  "He  saved 
others.  Himself  He  cannot  save."  ^^  Two  highway 
robbers  were  crucified  with  Him,  one  on  either  side, 
and  it  is  said  that  these  also  joined  in  the  mockery 
with  which  He  was  assailed,  but  that  presently  one 
of  them  repented  of  this  and  rebuked  the  other. 
"Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  in  thy 
Kingdom,"  ^^  he  prayed.  The  prayer  was  a  vague 
one,  but  it  shows  that  the  speaker  thought  it  quite 
possible  that  Jesus  might  yet  do  what  His  enemies 
taunted  Him  with  being  unable  to  do,  come  down 
from  the  cross  and  thus  demonstrate  to  them  all  that 

30  Matt,  xxvii.  37 ;  Mark  xv.  26 ;  Luke  xxiii.  38 ;  John  xix.  19. 

31  Matt,  xxvii.  42. 
22  Luke  xxiii.  42. 

392 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

He  was  the  chosen  of  heaven ;  it  could  hardlj^  mean 
more.  All  the  sweeter  and  more  comforting,  there- 
fore, to  one  with  a  spark  of  good  in  him  was  the 
promise  in  reply,  "To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me 
in  paradise."  ^'  Paradise  was  the  place  of  the  de- 
parted, not  heaven,  but  not  a  place  of  torment 
either,  and  what  was  reassuring  in  this  word  spoken 
to  the  penitent  robber  was  that  he  and  Jesus  would 
be  together  there.  Wliatever  happened,  therefore, 
on  that  mysterious  farther  side  of  death,  it  would 
be  well. 

Other  words  the  dying  Master  spoke  before  the 
end  came.  He  complained  of  thirst,  and  there  were 
those  present  who  would  have  given  Him  a  stupe- 
fying drink  prepared  by  some  compassionate  ladies 
of  Jerusalem  who  were  accustomed  to  endeavor 
to  assuage  the  sufferings  of  the  victims  of  this  hor- 
rible mode  of  public  execution.  But  Jesus  shook 
His  head ;  He  would  not  die  drugged.  Hour  after 
hour  He  hung  there  enduring  the  inconceivable 
agonies  to  which  He  was  subjected  and  of  which 
the  victims  often  died  raving  mad.  Six  hours  after 
the  crucifixion  began  He  suddenly  cried  with  a 
loud  voice  in  the  Aramaic  tongue,  "Eloi,  Eloi  lama 
sabachthani," — "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me?"  ^* — apparently  a  quotation  from  the 
twenty-second  Psalm  which  rose  to  His  lips  in  this 
dread  hour.  The  bystanders  thought  He  was  call- 
ing for  Elijah  as  the  Galilean  dialect  suggested,  and 
some  of  them  seem  to  have  imagined  it  possible 

33  Ibid.  43. 

3*  Mark  xv.  34 ;  Matt,  xxvii.  46. 

393 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

that  the  great  prophet  whose  advent  was  popularly 
expected  to  precede  that  of  the  Messiah  might,  in- 
deed, appear  to  save  Him.  But  no  such  dramatic 
deliverance  took  place,  and  soon  after  Jesus  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  "Father,  into  thy  hands  I  com- 
mend my  spirit,"  ^^  and  bowed  His  head  and  died. 
Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  divine  suf- 
ferer's last  thought  for  His  mother.  From  the 
cross  He  committed  her  to  the  care  of  the  beloved 
disciple  in  words  which  most  certainly  identify 
this  disciple  with  St.  John.  How  John  dared  to 
be  at  the  cross  when  the  other  Galileans  were  in  hid- 
ing is  not  explained;  perhaps  it  was  due  to  his 
acquaintance  with  the  high  priest. 

It  was  the  cruel  custom  to  break  the  limbs  of 
crucified  criminals  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  them 
if  they  were  too  long  in  dying.  The  Jewish  authori- 
ties asked  that  this  might  be  done  in  the  case  of 
Jesus  and  His  fellow-sufferers  in  order  that  their 
bodies  might  not  remain  hanging  on  the  cross  on 
the  Sabbath  day,  and  this  was  done  in  the  case  of 
the  two  thieves,  but  was  found  not  to  be  necessary 
in  the  case  of  Jesus,  as  He  was  already  dead, 
though  in  order  to  make  sure  that  He  was  not 
only  in  a  swoon  one  of  the  soldiers  pierced  His  side 
with  a  spear.  The  water  which  flowed  from  the 
wound,  in  addition  to  blood,  is  said  to  demonstrate 
that  our  Lord  died  from  a  ruptured  heart  as  is 
easily  conceivable  after  all  He  had  gone  through 
in  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours. 

Certain  portents  are  said  to  have  accompanied 

36  Luke  xxiii.  46. 

394 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

His  passing,  which  are  worthj^  of  note — three  hours 
of  phenomenal  darkness  which,  as  is  often  the  fact, 
appears  to  have  been  connected  with  seismic  dis- 
turbances, the  rending  of  the  veil  of  the  Temple 
from  probably  the  same  cause,  and  the  appearance 
of  a  number  of  apparitions  of  persons  long  dead. 
This  last  is  recorded  by  INIatthew  alone,  but  it  is 
far  from  being  incredible.  Moved,  perhaps,  in 
some  degree,  by  these  abnormal  happenings,  but 
still  more,  no  doubt,  by  what  he  had  observed  of 
the  demeanor  of  Jesus  throughout  His  trial,  the 
centurion  in  command  of  the  execution,  a  man  for- 
eign to  Jewish  ways,  was  sufficiently  impressed  to 
declare  in  the  hearing  of  the  assembled  multitude 
that  thev  had  crucified  an  innocent  man  and  prob- 
ably  a  divine  being — for  this  is  the  force  of  the 
double  ejaculation,  "Certainly  this  was  a  righteous 
man :  truly  this  was  a  son  of  God." 

His  opinion  was  shared  even  by  members  of  the 
Sanhedrin,  as  betokened  bv  the  action  of  Nicode- 
mus  and  Joseph  of  Arimathfea  w^ho  obtained  per- 
mission from  Pilate  to  inter  the  sacred  body  with 
respect.  It  was  laid  in  Joseph's  own  tomb,  one  of 
the  mam^  rock-heMn  tombs  of  the  neighborhood, 
and  the  like  of  which  still  abound  in  Palestine. 
John  says  it  was  in  a  garden  hard  by,  and  he  de- 
scribes in  detail  the  hasty  yet  loving  burial.  All 
that  the  forlorn  little  group  could  do  was  done  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  Sabbath  was  so  near;  it 
was  expected  that  some  of  them  might  come  again 
later  and  perform  more  carefully  the  last  offices  of 
anointing  the  body  with  sweet  spices.    The  heavy 


395 


THE   LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

stone  that  fitted  the  opening  of  the  sepulcher  was 
rolled  into  position  for  the  time  being,  and  the  sor- 
rowful mourners  went  their  way. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  Pharisees  witnessed  the  in- 
terment and  heard  the  resolve  expressed  that  some 
of  the  women  should  come  again  after  the  Sabbath 
with  proper  unguents  for  completing  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  body  for  the  grave.  At  any  rate,  they 
determined  to  make  sure  that  there  should  be  no 
tampering  with  the  tomb  without  their  knowledge, 
for  they  seem  to  have  been  quite  aware  of  the  Mas- 
ter's prophecjT'  that  He  would  rise  again  on  the 
third  day,  or,  as  Matthew  has  it,  "after  three  days" 
— an  expression  which  means  the  same  thing,  though 
not  strictly  identical  in  form.  Obtaining  authority, 
therefore,  they  placed  a  guard  by  the  tomb  and 
sealed  up  the  stone. 


<( 


He  Is  Risen" 


The  subject  of  the  resurrection  is  full  of  diffi- 
culty, less  so  intrinsically  than  is  an  attempt  to  fill 
up  the  gaps  in  our  knowledge  of  what  happened 
on  the  first  Easter  Sunday  and  the  forty  days  fol- 
lowing. But,  as  the  late  Lord  Salisbury  once  said, 
there  is  no  event  in  history  better  attested  than  the 
fact  that  Jesus  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  for  with- 
out this  fact  the  existence  of  Christianity  itself  is 
absolutely  unexplainable.  However  we  are  to  view 
it,  it  is  certain  that  something  tremendous,  some- 
thing overwhelmingly  convincing,  must  have  taken 
place  in  order  to  transform  our  Lord's  dismayed 

396 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

followers  into  the  intrepid  spiritual  forces  they  af- 
terwards became.    Wliat  was  it? 

All  the  gospels  are  agreed  that  it  was  Mary  Mag- 
dalene who  played  the  principal  part  in  the  discov- 
ery of  the  empty  tomb.  Wliether  there  was  any 
one  with  her  to  begin  with  is  not  quite  so  certain. 
Mark  names  several  others  as  being  present,  John 
mentions  INIary  alone,  Matthew  two  Marys,  Luke 
adds  Joanna  and  the  other  woman  who  had  belonged 
to  the  Galilean  fellowship.  They  expected  to  be 
baffled  by  the  sealed  stone,  especially  as  it  was  much 
too  heavy  for  their  frail  hands  to  move.  They  may 
or  may  not  have  known  of  the  guard  that  had  been 
placed  there.  But,  to  their  astonishment,  they  found 
the  stone  rolled  away,  the  tomb  empty,  and  no  one 
to  be  seen.  Matthew's  special  source  says  that 
there  had  been  an  earthquake  shock,  which  is  not 
unlikely,  seeing  that  there  had  been  indications  of 
the  kind  on  the  Friday  afternoon  while  the  cruci- 
fixion was  going  on.  From  this  version  of  events 
we  should  gather  that  a  severe  storm  accompanied 
the  shaking  of  the  earth's  surface,  for  we  are  next 
told  of  the  appearance  of  a  heavenly  being  whose 
visage  was  like  lightning  and  who  wore  a  vesture 
of  dazzling  brightness.  The  narrative  states  that 
it  was  he  who  rolled  away  the  stone  and  sat  upon  it, 
to  the  extreme  terror  of  the  men  who  had  been  left 
on  guard.  These  fled  into  the  city  with  their  tale 
and  were  forthwith  bribed  to  silence,  or,  rather,  to 
avow  that  the  body  of  Jesus  was  stolen  while  they 
slept.  It  is  not  said  that  any  one  actually  saw  Jesus 
emerge  from  the  tomb,  but  all  the  accounts  testify 

397 


THE    LIFE    0¥,   CHRIST 

to  at  least  one  supernatural  visitor  on  the  scene 
when  Mary  and  her  friends  arrived ;  Luke  and  John 
say  two.  Mark  speaks  of  a  young  man  arrayed 
in  a  white  robe,  and  Luke  of  two  in  shining  gar- 
ments, but  they  evidently  refer  to  beings  not  of 
this  world.  It  was  these  who  gave  the  first  intima- 
tion to  the  women  that  Jesus  was  risen.  Matthew 
and  Mark  say  no  more  of  any  Jerusalem  appear- 
ance. Mark's  story  of  the  stupendous  event  stops 
abruptly  at  this  point.  It  tells  us  that  the  women 
were  instructed  by  the  supernatural  watcher  to  go 
and  tell  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  disciples  that  Jesus 
would  appear  to  them  in  Galilee.  It  adds  that  they 
said  nothing  to  any  one  because  they  were  afraid. 
The  last  twelve  verses  of  the  gospel  are  manifestly 
a  compilation  from  the  others  and  may  be  neglected 
for  the  purpose  of  our  inquiry  into  the  facts  of 
this  marvelous  occurrence. 

Matthew  and  Luke  agree  that  the  women  were 
told  to  tell  the  apostles,  but  Luke  omits  what 
JNIatthew  relates  that,  as  they  were  going,  Jesus 
Himself  met  them  and  confirmed  the  message  they 
were  to  deliver  about  the  Galilean  appearance. 
Luke  states  that  Peter  went  and  examined  the 
tomb,  but  saw  nothing,  and  that  the  rest  of  the 
apostles  regarded  the  women's  reports  as  idle  tales. 

It  is  to  John  that  we  must  look  for  a  fuller  and 
more  moving  recital  of  the  first  sequences  of  events, 
and  he  writes  as  one  sure  of  his  ground.  It  was 
Mary  Magdalene  who  first  came  upon  the  empty 
tomb,  "early,  while  it  was  yet  dark."  She  went  at 
once  to  tell  Peter  and  John,  and  these  both  came 

398 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

in  haste  to  inspect  the  scene.  John  got  there  first, 
as  being  younger  he  was  the  fleeter  of  foot,  but  he 
did  not  enter  the  tomb.  Stooping  down  he  saw  that 
the  body  was  gone,  for  he  could  discern  the  hnen 
clothes  in  which  it  had  been  wrapped  lying  by  them- 
selves. Peter,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  hesitate; 
on  arriving  he  went  straight  in  and  saw  for  himself 
that  the  body  was  not  there.  John  followed,  and 
both  noted  that  the  cerements  lay,  as  Dr.  Latham 
points  out,^®  as  though  the  body  had  risen  through 
them  instead  of  shaking  them  off,  for  the  linen  cloth 
that  was  about  the  head  lay  apart  from  the  rest  on 
the  raised  slab  on  which  the  head  had  rested.  Satis- 
fied that  what  they  had  heard  was  true,  they  went 
back  home  again.  There  is  no  mention  of  there 
having  been  any  heavenly  visitant. 

But  Mary  did  not  go.  She  remained  standing 
without  the  tomb  weeping,  and  presently,  like  the 
two  apostles,  she  stooped  down  and  looked  into  the 
sepulcher,  when,  contrary  to  aught  she  could  have 
expected  considering  the  examination  of  the  tomb  a 
few  moments  before,  she  saw  two  persons  sitting, 
one  at  the  head  and  the  other  at  the  foot, 
where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain.  Appar- 
ently she  did  not  suspect  that  they  were  other  than 
human,  though  she  might  have  wondered  why  Peter 
and  John  had  not  referred  to  them.  They  asked 
her  why  she  wept  and  she  replied,  "Because  they 
have  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not  where 
they  have  laid  Him."  "    They  appear  to  have  said 

«8  The  Risen  Master,  chap.  i.         '^  John  xx.  13, 

dB9 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

no  more  just  then,  and  she  was  turning  away  dis- 
consolate when  she  saw  Jesus  Himself  standing 
near  her  amid  the  breaking  shadows  of  the  morning. 
He  put  the  same  question,  and  she,  thinking  Him  to 
be  the  man  who  kept  Joseph  of  Arimathgea's  gar- 
den, asked  to  be  told  whither  he  had  conveyed  her 
Master's  body.  "Mary!"  came  the  answer,  tenderly 
spoken  in  the  old  familiar  accents  she  had  thought 
never  to  hear  again.  In  swift  revulsion  of  feeling 
she  flung  herself  at  His  feet  with  the  glad  cry, 
"Rabboni,"  and  would  have  clutched  Him  in  her 
agony  of  delight,  as  though  never  again  to  be  parted 
from  Him.  In  St.  John's  mention  of  this  striking 
detail  we  have  an  undesigned  correspondence  with 
Matthew's  statement  that  the  women  rushing  from 
the  tomb  met  Jesus  and  held  Him  by  His  feet  and 
worshiped  Him.  "Take  not  hold  on  me"  was  the 
gentle  remonstrance;  "for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to 
my  Father;  but  go  to  my  brethren,  and  say  unto 
them,  I  ascend  unto  my  Father,  and  your  Father; 
and  to  my  God,  and  your  God."  ^^  They  were  not 
to  seek  to  detain  Him  here  or  expect  to  resume  the 
old  relationship  on  exactly  the  same  footing;  a 
new,  and  higher,  and  closer  relationship  would  begin 
from  this  time  forth.  They  may  not  yet  have  known 
what  ascension  meant,  but  it  was  not  long  before 
they  did.  The  risen  and  ascended  Lord  was  hence- 
forth to  be  a  closer,  dearer,  more  intimate  compan- 
ion than  the  earthly  teacher  whose  words  had  been 
spirit  and  life  to  them. 

Several  striking  post-resurrection  appearances 

88/&|rf.   17. 

400 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

are  recorded  in  Jerusalem  and  the  neighborhood, 
as  described  not  only  by  the  third  and  fourth  evan- 
gelists, but  by  St.  Paul.  From  Paul's  words,  which 
are  the  earliest  record  of  the  facts,  we  gather  what 
was  universally  believed  in  the  primitive  Church 
in  regard  to  the  matter.  Incidentally,  he  confirms 
by  anticipation  both  the  synoptics  and  the  fourth 
gospel. 

One  of  the  most  impressive  and  significant  of  the 
appearances  receives  bare  mention  only,  but  is  none 
the  less  touching  for  that.  It  is  the  appearance  to 
Peter,  the  poor,  discomfited  braggart  who  had 
promised  so  well  and  behaved  so  ill  and  was  now 
lurking  somewhere  in  utter  despair,  feeling  that  he 
could  never  lift  his  head  again.  We  have  seen  that 
Peter,  in  the  company  of  John,  had  hastened  to  the 
tomb  at  the  first  intimation  that  it  was  empty,  so 
it  is  clear  that  these  two  had  forsaken  all  unworthy 
rivalries  in  presence  of  their  common  sorrow.  John, 
too,  had  something  to  reproach  himself  with.  Like 
the  rest,  he  had  fled  from  Gethsemane  even  if  he 
had  afterwards  returned  and  stood  by  the  cross  at 
Calvary.  He  would  understand  Peter's  defection 
and  be  well  aware  of  the  true  loyalty  and  devotion 
to  Jesus'  person  which,  nevertheless,  underlay  it, 
and  which  now  filled  the  poor  fisherman's  heart 
with  inconsolable  grief.  How  much  these  two  must 
have  had  to  say  to  each  other  in  John's  lodging, 
wherever  it  was,  to  which  they  had  betaken  them- 
selves, and  where,  be  it  remembered,  the  virgin 
mother  had  also  been  sheltered  by  the  Lord's  own 
command!    To  whom  did  Jesus  first  appear?    Was 

401 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

it  to  His  mother  ?  What  passed  between  these  twain 
was  not  for  mortal  ears  to  hear.  St.  Paul  mentions 
first  the  appearance  to  Peter,  and  Luke  inciden- 
tally confirms  this  by  the  report  of  the  excited  tes- 
timony of  the  eleven  to  two  disciples:  "The  Lord  is 
risen  indeed,  and  hath  appeared  to  Simon."  ""^  To 
Simon !  Again  not  a  word  is  told  us  of  what  passed 
between  the  humble  and  penitent  apostle  and  the 
risen  Master.  How  could  there  be?  With  tender- 
est  delicacy  and  compassion,  Jesus  came  to  comfort 
His  poor  follower  and  restore  him  to  His  fellow- 
ship, a  fellowship  never  again  to  be  broken.  Peter 
was  a  changed  man  from  that  hour.  He  had  no 
more  earthlj^  rewards  to  ask  for  and  no  more  dan- 
gers to  fear ;  henceforth  he  lived  for  Jesus  and  Jesus 
alone.  What  he  may  have  said  to  Jesus  or  Jesus 
to  him  forms  no  part  of  the  gospel  tradition ;  it  re- 
mained sealed  within  the  hearts  of  both,  a  mutual 
confidence  too  sacred  and  intimate  to  be  disclosed 
to  the  rest  of  the  world.  A  public  evidence  of  the 
renewed  understanding  had  yet  to  be  made, 
but  what  happened  at  this  first  interview  when 
the  erstwhile  crucified  Savior  came  in  private 
to  talk  with  the  man  who  had  been  the  first  to  recog- 
nize His  true  Messiahship  and  yet  denied  Him  in 
the  hour  of  His  passion  is  their  own  secret.  We 
are  told  no  more  than  that  the  interview  took  place, 
but  that  is  enough  to  suggest  a  whole  range  of  beau- 
tiful things.  Perhaps  the  meeting  was  in  the  house 
where  John  and  the  Virgin  dwelt,  and  Jesus  may 
have  seen  all  three  separately  and  then  conversed 

88  Luke  xxiv.  34. 

402 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

with  them  together  in  that  abode  but  recently  so 
full  of  woe  and  now  of  a  joy  the  like  of  which  surely 
earth  had  never  known  before ;  for  in  deed  and  truth 
the  incredible  had  taken  place,  and  henceforth  to 
these  privileged  ones  death  had  no  terrors  as  earth 
had  no  glamours. 

John  tells  how  this  same  evening  Jesus  came 
through  closed  doors  to  the  disciples  in  the  upper 
room  or  perhaps  in  the  house  of  Mark's  mother. 
"Then  were  the  disciples  glad  when  they  saw  the 
Lord"  ^°  is  the  simple  and  restrained  comment  which 
the  evangelist  makes  upon  the  awe-inspiring  scene. 
Doubtless  this  is  the  experience  which  Paul  men- 
tions as  having  been  to  the  twelve,  as  it  certainly  is 
the  one  described  by  St.  Luke  in  terms  so  different 
as  to  show  that  the  two  sources  are  quite  independ- 
ent of  each  other,  though  mutually  consistent.  It 
is  the  third  evangelist  also  who  relates  the  winsome 
episode  of  the  appearance  to  a  disciple  named 
Cleopas  on  the  way  to  Emmaus  some  time  between 
the  morning  and  the  evening  of  that  wonderful 
first  Easter  day.  Paul  adds  that  after  that  "He 
was  seen  of  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once."  *^ 
Where  this  meeting  took  place  is  not  indicated ;  per- 
haps it  was  in  Galilee,  which  is  rather  more  likely 
than  Jerusalem ;  but  that  it  was  no  vague  tradition, 
but  an  authentic  event,  is  proved  by  the  apostle's 
accompanying  statement  that  the  greater  number 
of  those  so  privileged  were  still  alive  at  the  moment 
of  writing.    Luke  and  John  hardly  leave  room  for 

^0  John  XX.  20.  ■*!  I  Cor.  xv.  6. 

403 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Galilean  appearances,  especially  the  former,  but 
they  contain  nothing  inconsistent  with  the  testi- 
mony of  JNIatthew  and  Mark — if  Mark  can  be  cited 
in  this  connection — that  there  were  such  appear- 
ances. The  statement  that  the  apostles  met  Jesus 
in  Galilee  as  well  as  in  Jerusalem  rests  upon  Mat- 
thew's authority  only,  but  it  is  quite  definite.  The 
only  difficulty  about  it  is  that  of  accounting  for  a 
journey  of  the  eleven  to  Jerusalem  again  after- 
wards, for  it  is  said  to  have  been  from  Jerusalem 
that  the  Master's  final  departure  took  place.  The 
addendum  to  St.  John's  gospel,  chapter  xxi,  is 
additional  testimony,  however,  that  the  journey 
north  must  actually  have  been  made,  for  it  describes 
an  appearance  to  a  few  of  the  apostolic  band  at  the 
lake  of  Tiberias  as  they  were  engaged  in  their  for- 
mer avocation  of  fishing.  John  calls  this  the  third 
appearance  to  the  disciples,  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  it  was  the  third  appearance  in  all.  There  is  the 
special  appearance  to  James  the  Lord's  brother, 
which  Paul  says  took  place  after  these  previously 
mentioned  events.  Llenceforth  James  and  the  rest 
of  the  family  are  associated  with  the  company  of  dis- 
ciples in  Jerusalem,  and  James  appears  from  the 
first  as  head  of  the  Church  there.  On  the  whole, 
the  most  reasonable  supposition  is  that  during  the 
forty  days  intervening  between  the  resurrection  and 
ascension  our  Lord,  first  in  Jerusalem  and  then  in 
Galilee,  explained  to  His  followers  all  that  was 
necessary  concerning  the  foundation  of  the  Church, 
and  advised  them  to  go  home  to  Galilee  and  settle 
their  affairs  there  as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  be- 

404 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

ginning  their  new  work  as  missionaries  to  their  na- 
tion and  the  world.  Jerusalem  was  the  natural 
center  from  which  to  begin,  not  Galilee,  but  as  the 
majoritj^  of  them  came  from  Galilee  they  had  to  re- 
turn thither  after  this  tragical  Passover  with  its 
astounding  sequel  before  coming  south  again  to  the 
capital  to  await  their  Master's  will. 

There  may  have  been  a  few  other  appearances  in 
Jerusalem  and  neighborhood  during  the  first  Easter 
week.  Cleopas  and  the  unnamed  friend  who 
journeyed  with  him  to  Emmaus — perhaps  Luke 
himself — were  not  of  the  innermost  circle  of  dis- 
ciples, so  it  is  not  too  much  to  infer  that  others  may 
have  been  similarly  privileged.  On  this  occa- 
sion Jesus  is  said  to  have  been  recognized  by  them 
in  the  solemn  act  of  the  breaking  of  bread.  This 
can  hardty  have  been  an  allusion  to  the  Last  Sup- 
per, for  as  these  men  were  not  apostles  they  would 
not  be  present  thereat.  Perhaps  it  was  characteris- 
tic of  Jesus  to  bless  a  meal  before  partaking  of  it, 
or  what  is  more  probable,  the  expression  may  simply 
mean  that  while  He  was  in  the  act  of  pronounc- 
ing a  blessing  on  this  occasion  He  had  momentarily 
resumed  the  form  and  feature  to  which  they  had 
previously  been  accustomed  and  they  instantly 
knew  Him.  The  whole  story  is  one  of  singular  at- 
tractiveness as  well  as  authenticity.  John  says 
that  it  was  as  much  as  eight  days  after  this  before 
the  further  appearance  of  Jesus  in  the  upper  room 
at  which  Thomas  was  present ;  so  we  maj^  conclude 
that  for  at  least  that  time  the  Galilean  followers 
of  the  Master  had  remained  in  Jerusalem  before 

405 


THE    LIFE    OF   CHRIST 

obeying  the  direction  sent  to  them  through  the 
women  that  they  should  meet  Jesus  in  Gahlee. 
Mark's  story  that  He  was  going  before  them  into 
Gahlee  is  no  contradiction  of  this  fact.  He  was; 
perhaps  Peter  and  the  more  intimate  circle  had 
already  gone,  for  they  are  not  mentioned  as  having 
been  present  on  this  occasion.  This  special  appear- 
ance appears  to  have  been  for  the  benefit  of  Thomas 
who  had  not  been  able  hitherto  to  believe  the  good 
news  unless  he  were  allowed  personally  to  verify  it. 
John's  story  of  the  appearance  to  Peter,  Thomas, 
Nathanael,  and  James  and  John  by  the  lake  of 
Galilee  at  a  later  stage  is  memorable  for  the  con- 
versation which  ensued  between  Jesus  and  Peter. 
Three  times  Peter  had  denied  his  Lord  in  Pilate's 
hall;  three  times  he  is  now  asked  to  affirm  his  loy- 
alty. He  had  claimed  to  be  more  faithful  than  the 
others,  so  the  first  question  was,  "Lovest  thou  me 
more  than  these  ?"  ^^  Peter  was  in  no  mood  for  boast- 
ing now  or  for  asserting  his  own  superiority  to  the 
rest  in  personal  fidelity  or  anything  else,  so  he 
merely  answered  in  simple  terms,  "Yea,  Lord,  thou 
knowest  that  I  love  thee."  ^^  Thereupon  he  received 
the  solemn  commission  to  feed  the  fiock  of  Christ; 
he  was  now  ready  by  his  very  humility  to  take  up 
the  office  which  had  been  designed  for  him  from  the 
first.  A  second  time  the  same  question  was  put, 
and  the  same  answer  given;  and  yet  a  third.  We 
are  told  that  Peter  was  grieved  because  the  question 
was  put  a  third  time,  but  the  reason  of  his  morti- 

«John  xxi.  15.  *^Ibid. 

406 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

fication  is  not  apparent  in  the  English  version  of 
the  text.  It  was  not  the  iteration  but  the  form  of 
the  question  which  wounded  him.  There  is  a  play 
here  on  the  English  word  "love."  Two  words  are 
employed  in  the  Greek  original  which  are  trans- 
lated into  our  tongue  by  this  one  term,  thus  missing 
the  main  point.  In  the  first  two  questions  Jesus 
employed  one  word  and  Peter  answered  with  an- 
other. The  former  was  a  loftier  word  than  the  lat- 
ter, expressive  of  the  highest  form  of  love  (dyd-rrr)) ; 
Peter's  word  was  the  humbler  term,  expressive  of 
a  heart's  fellowship,  unpretentious  and  individual 
(ojtXta),  the  word  which  is  the  root  of  our  "philan- 
thropy." The  third  time  Jesus  put  His  searching 
question  He  came  down  to  Peter's  term,  and  it  was 
this  which  hurt  Peter ;  it  seemed  as  though  the  Mas- 
ter doubted  his  sincerity,  hence  the  disciple's  shamed 
remonstrance  which  was  in  effect  this:  "Surely, 
dear  Lord,  you  who  know  all  things,  including  the 
human  heart,  are  well  aware  that  despite  all  my 
cowardice  and  treachery  to  my  vows,  despite  my 
abandonment  of  j'-ou  in  your  hour  of  direst  need,  I 
loved  you  all  along.  Neither  shall  I  boast  nor  claim 
precedence  of  any  one;  I  but  love  you  as  a  child 
might  love  a  mother,  as  one  who  has  everything  to 
gain  and  nothing  to  give.  O,  believe  it ;  I  make  no 
higher  pretension."  This  was  all  Jesus  wanted,  and 
He  closed  the  impressive  colloquy  with  another  defi- 
nite allusion  to  Peter's  former  hopes  of  reward  and 
honor.  His  greatest  honor  in  this  world  was  to  be 
that  in  time  to  come  he  should  die  for  his  Lord. 
Tradition  says  that  this  prophecy  was  exactly  ful- 

407 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

filled,  for  Peter  was  crucified  in  Rome  head  down- 
ward as  a  martj^r  in  the  cause  of  Jesus  and  His 
Church. 

The  resurrection  body  of  Jesus  is  said  to  have 
behaved  in  supernormal  ways  and  to  have  been 
possessed  of  powers  unknown  to  ordinary  human 
flesh.  He  could  appear  and  disappear  at  will,  could 
pass  through  walls  and  doors  as  though  they  were 
nonexistent,  and  finallv  He  was  devitated  from  the 
midst  of  the  wondering  disciples  and  vanished 
from  their  view.  Nevertheless,  it  was  no  phan- 
tom Christ  who  ate  and  drank  before  His  friends, 
not,  perhaps,  because  He  needed  such  susten- 
ance, but  to  convince  them  that-  His  body  was 
real,  was,  in  fact,  the  very  same  body  that  had  hung 
on  Calvary  and  been  laid  in  the  tomb.  ^*  It  was  for 
this  reason  also,  doubtless,  that  He  invited  Thomas 
to  place  his  finger  on  the  print  of  the  nails.  To  the 
modern  mind  such  phenomena  seem  incredible,  and 
so  they  might  be  were  there  no  context  for  them,  no 
category  to  which  to  relate  them  nearer  to  our  own 
time.  That  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  unique 
goes  without  saying,  but  the  fact  of  the  passage  of 
matter  through  matter  is  not  unique.  ^^  As  Freder- 
ick Myers  says  in  his  Human  Personality  and  Its 
Survival  of  Bodily  Death: 

^*  Oskar  Holtzmann's  view  that  "the  reanimation  of  Jesus'  earthly 
body  could  only  have  been  important  if  He  was  to  continue  His  life 
on  earth"  {Life  of  Jesus,  p.  500)  misses  the  purpose  of  that  reanima- 
tion as  most  of  the  modern  negative  criticisms  of  the  traditional  be- 
lief do. 

■i^Vide  Zollner:  Transcendental  Physics,  chap.  vH.  and  many  other 
testimonies. 

408 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

On  a  basis  of  observed  facts  Christianity,  the 
youngest  of  the  great  types  of  religion,  does 
assuredly  rest.  Assuredly  those  facts,  so  far  as 
tradition  has  made  them  known  to  us,  do  tend  to 
prove  the  superhuman  character  of  its  Founder, 
and  His  triumph  over  death ;  and  thus  the  existence 
and  influence  of  a  spiritual  world,  where  men's  true 
citizenship  lies.  ...  I  venture  now  on  a  bold  say- 
ing; for  I  predict  that,  in  consequence  of  the  new 
evidence,  all  reasonable  men,  a  century  hence,  will 
believe  the  Resurrection  of  Christ,  whereas,  in  de- 
fault of  the  new  evidence,  no  reasonable  men,  a  cen- 
tury hence,  would  have  believed  it.  .  .  .  There  is 
nothing  to  hinder  the  reverent  faith  that,  though 
we  be  all  "the  Children  of  the  Most  Highest,"  He 
came  nearer  than  we,  by  some  space  by  us  immeas- 
urable, to  that  which  is  infinitely  far.  There  is 
nothing  to  hinder  the  devout  conviction  that  He  of 
His  own  act  "took  upon  Him  the  form  of  a  ser- 
vant," and  was  made  flesh  for  our  salvation,  fore- 
seeing the  earthly  travail  and  the  eternal  crown. 


4S 


The  fact  is  that  we  do  not  know  anything  about 
the  ultimate  relation  of  matter  to  spirit.  Matter 
is  the  language  of  spirit.  Living  our  lives,  as  we 
do,  under  the  conditions  of  a  three-dimensional 
world,  our  bodies  are  our  means  of  expression  and 
of  communication  one  with  another.  But  if  once 
we  could  be  freed  from  the  limitations  of  our  three- 
dimensional  experience  of  life,  many  things  which 
now  appear  to  us  impossible,  or  at  least  abnormal, 
would  become  normal  and  reasonable.  After  the 
resurrection,  our  Lord  was  a  being  no  longer  sub- 
ject to  physical  limitations,  but  used  His  physical 

*6  Vol.  II,  pp.  286,  289. 


409 


THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

body  for  a  time  as  the  very  best  kind  of  language 
He  could  employ  wherewith  to  assure  those  who 
loved  Him  that  He  had  triumphed  over  sin  and 
death  and  in  spirit  was  with  them  evermore.  The 
ascension  was  not  the  carrj^ing  up  of  a  physical 
body  to  another  plane  of  existence  above  the  sky, 
but  its  withdrawal  into  and  assimilation  to  its  spiri- 
tual background,  like  the  melting  of  a  white  cloud 
into  the  fathomless  blue  of  the  firmament  out  of 
which  it  arose.  The  whole  story  is  literally  and  ex- 
actly true. 

Jesus  is  forever  the  one  Master  of  the  human 
race.  Other  masters  may  come  and  go;  a  few  are 
not  unworthy  to  stand  beside  Him;  but  He  only 
has  given  us  God.  The  creeds  may  fail  to  explain 
the  relationship  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  but 
they  testify  to  the  discovery  Jesus  brought  to  man- 
kind: we  have  found  God  in  Him:  to  Him  we  owe 
all  we  know  or  are  able  to  understand  of  the  spiri- 
tual order :  He  is  in  very  deed  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
and  the  Life.  It  is  really  Jesus  we  worship  when 
we  name  the  name  of  God.  It  is  not  that  we  have 
exalted  Jesus  to  share  God's  throne,  but  that  our 
very  conceptions  of  God  have  become  exalted  by 
being  associated  with  the  person  of  Jesus.  And  j^et 
He  is  of  ourselves;  only  once  has  the  world  seen 
perfect  man,  and  that  was  in  Jesus.  The  divinely 
human,  the  humanly  divine,  He  has  revealed  to  us 
our  own  possibilities,  made  us  to  glimpse  a  little  of 
the  glory  that  shall  be  when  we  know  as  we  are 
known.    In  no  forensic  sense,  but  in  simple  and  un- 

410 


RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 

escapable  fact,  He  is  Lord  of  all;  our  source,  our 
goal;  our  Savior,  our  Judge;  our  hope  of  ultimate 
victory  over  all  the  ills  of  our  present  lot  and  of 
entrance  into  everlasting  habitations. 


APPENDIX— NOTE  A 

PERSONAL  APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  gospels  we  have  so  little  ref- 
erence to  a  subject  on  which  modern  readers  would  greatly 
desire  information.  Wliat  was  Jesus  like  in  appearance? 
iWas  He  tall  or  short,  robust  or  frail,  handsome  or  the 
reverse?  Did  He  resemble  in  any  degree  the  conventional 
portrait  of  Him  which  has  now  become  all  but  universal  in 
Christendom  ?  How  did  He  dress  ;  and  what  characteris- 
tic features,  if  any,  did  He  possess — what  sort  of  voice, 
look,  gesture,  such  as  we  are  wont  to  associate  with  those 
dear  to  us,  would  those  who  knew  Him  always  remember  as 
specially  His  ? 

On  all  these  points  the  evangelists  are  strangely  silent. 
All  we  can  gather  from  them  is — and  they  are  impressively 
at  one  in  regard  thereto — that  He  carried  with  Him  a 
suggestion  of  great  personal  force  and  at  the  same  time 
of  wonderful  winsomeness.  He  created  awe  in  His  hear- 
ers, and  in  His  case  familiarity  did  not  breed  contempt, 
for  we  read  that  the  disciples  were  very  conscious  of  this 
quality  in  Him  up  to  the  last.  Thus  Mark  says  (x.  32) : 
"And  they  were  in  the  way  going  up  to  Jerusalem;  and 
Jesus  was  going  before  them :  and  they  were  amazed ;  and 
they  that  followed  were  afraid."  Evidently  something 
in  the  Master's  demeanor,  the  solemn  resolve  to  go  to 
meet  suffering  and  death,  the  lonely  majesty,  the  spirit 
not  of  this  world,  the  suggestion  of  unearthliness  that 
clung  to  His  every  movement  filled  these  simple  men  with 

413 


APPENDIX— NOTE  A 

a  feeling  akin  to  fear.  They  could  not  understand  Him, 
but  His  very  presence  cast  a  spell  upon  them  such  as 
none  other  ever  did.  It  must  have  been  a  personality  of 
extraordinary  loftiness  and  power  that  could  produce  this 
eifect  in  those  who  lived  within  its  immediate  influence 
from  day  to  day.  On  another  occasion  (Mark  ix.  32), 
we  read:  "They  understood  not  that  saying,  and  were 
afraid  to  ask  Him." 

Even  His  enemies  were  conscious  of  this  to  some  ex- 
tent. Again  and  again  we  are  told  that  no  man  after  a 
certain  episode  "durst  ask  Him  any  question"  (Matt.  xxii. 
46;  Mark  xii.  34;  Luke  xx.  40).  After  the  resurrection, 
as  we  might  expect,  the  feeling  was  intensified  on  the  part 
of  the  disciples  (John  xxi.  12).  Everywhere  and  at  all 
times  throughout  the  earthly  ministry  the  disciples  are 
represented  as  treating  Jesus  with  the  utmost  reverence 
as  a  being  infinitely  superior  to  themselves — and  yet  He 
was  but  a  young  man !  Priests,  Pharisees,  and  scribes  did 
not  find  it  easy  to  challenge  Him  openly.  They  scowled, 
and  murmured,  and  intrigued  against  Him,  but  it  was  not 
until  He  was  actually  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  His  foes 
that  they  dared  openly  to  show  Him  any  violence.  How 
otherwise  are  we  to  account  for  the  fact  that  more  than 
once  when  violence  was  actually  threatened  He  was  able  to 
go  away  unscathed?  "He,  passing  through  the  midst  of 
them,  went  His  way"  (Luke  iv.  30).  (Cf.  John  viii.  59 
and  X.  39).  Why  was  it  that  the  rulers  of  the  Temple 
dared  not  lay  hands  on  Him  when  He  swept  out  the  money 
changers?  Why  did  they  slink  abashed  from  His  pres- 
ence? Why  but  for  the  same  reason,  that  the  overwhelm- 
ing moral  force  which  radiated  from  Him  made  it  im- 
possible to  do  otherwise?  Is  not  this  the  explanation 
also  of  the  remarkable  passage  (John  xviii.  6)  in  which 
it  is  stated  that  those  who  came  to  arrest  Him  in  Gethse- 
mane  *Vent  backward,  and  fell  to  the  ground"?  No  one 
liked  to  be  the  first  to  touch  Him,  and  as  He  advanced 

they  retreated,  stumbling  over  one  another,  until  at  length 

414 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS 

tKey  summed  up  courage  enough  to  seize  their  tiiiarmed 
victim. 

On  the  other  hand,  note  the  readiness  with  which  little 
children  came  to  Him.  There  is  one  incident  which  illus- 
trates this  even  more  than  the  saying  "Suffer  little  chil- 
dren to  come  unto  me,"  which  finds  a  place  in  all  the  synop- 
tics, and  that  is  the  placing  of  a  little  child  in  the  midst 
of  the  wondering  circle  of  quarreling  men  and  bidding 
them  imitate  him  if  they  would  attain  to  membership  in 
the  Kingdom  of  God  (Matt,  xviii.  2;  Mark  ix.  36;  Luke 
ix.  46,  47).  This  child  must  have  been  well  content  to 
stand  between  Jesus'  knees  with  Jesus'  arms  around  him ; 
no  hint  is  offered  to  the  contrary.  And  where  did  He  find 
the  child?  The  suggestion  is  that  he  was  there  already, 
standing  looking  up  into  the  Master's  face,  and  that  Jesus 
had  simply  drawn  him  to  His  side  to  point  His  discourse. 
Children  could  have  felt  no  fear  of  Jesus.  Evidently, 
therefore,  there  must  have  been  something  attractive  and 
kind  in  His  very  look  when  it  rested  on  a  little  one,  some- 
thing tender  and  winning. 

The  erring  and  the  downtrodden  discerned  this  also. 
The  woman  taken  in  adultery  remained  near  Him  when 
her  accusers  fled  discomfited  (John  viii.  1-11)  ;  the  woman 
that  was  a  sinner  washed  His  feet  with  her  tears,  re- 
gardless of  the  opinion  of  those  about  her  (Luke  vii.  38)  ; 
little  Zacchaeus  blurted  out  his  promise  of  amendment  in 
the  presence  of  a  company  that  scorned  him,  sure  of  the 
Master's  sympathy  and  understanding  (Luke  xix.  8) — 
all  that  was  good  in  him  rose  up  and  found  expression 
under  the  serene  gaze  of  those  kind  eyes. 

And  what  eyes  Jesus  must  have  had !  All  of  the  evange- 
lists repeatedly  draw  attention  to  the  way  in  which  He 
looked  at  people.  Evidently  they  were  struck  by  this. 
Those  who  listened  to  Jesus  habitually  must  often  have 
spoken  about  it — that  look  at  Peter  in  the  judgment  hall, 
for  instance  (Luke  xxii.  61)  ;  the  look  that  He  gave  to 
the  churlish  Pharisees  before  the  act  of  healing  in  the 

415 


APPENDIX— NOTE  A 

synsLgogne  (Mark  lii.  5)  ;  most  of  all,  perhaps,  line  smil- 
ing sympathy  with  which  He  regarded  the  rich  young 
ruler  (Mark  x.  21).  As  to  His  voice,  we  are  told  that 
"the  common  people  heard  Him  gladly"  (Mark  xii.  37), 
which  they  would  not  have  done  if  there  had  not  been 
a  certain  charm  in  the  cadences  of  the  voice  that  uttered 
the  words  of  eternal  life.  "Never  man  spake  like  this  man" 
(John  vii.  46)  was  the  testimony  of  the  officers  of  the 
Sanhedrin  sent  to  arrest  Him.  In  their  absorption  in 
what  He  was  saying  and  in  His  way  of  saying  it  they 
forgot  their  commission  and  later  felt  they  could  not  carry 
it  out. 

His  dress,  His  demeanor,  His  walk  would  all  be  in  keep- 
ing. There  would  be  a  dignity  and  simplicit^^  about  these 
which  accorded  with  the  rest  of  what  we  are  told  about 
Jesus.  He  was  not  rich,  so  His  garments  must  have  been 
those  of  the  ordinary  person  of  His  class  in  that  day.; 
He  may  have  worn  the  praying  shawl  of  white  with  col- 
ored edges  which  was  common  in  that  day  as  at  present, 
principally  in  the  synagogue,  but  also  outside.  The  long, 
straight  undergarment  worn  by  natives  of  Palestine  by 
night  and  day,  and  extending  from  the  neck  to  the  ankles, 
no  doubt  formed  part  of  Jesus'  costume.  This,  too,  may 
have  been  white,  and  was  probably  fastened  with  a  girdle. 
On  His  head  would  be  a  large  white  or  colored  napkin, 
folded  diagonall3\  A  sleeveless  cloak  or  coat  of  goats' 
or  camels'  hair  or  wool,  for  outdoor  use,  and  sandals 
for  the  feet  would  complete  the  wearing  apparel  as  in 
Tissot's  realistic  pictures. 

Authentic  portraits  of  the  Master  we  have  none.  But 
the  Rev.  J.  R.  Aitken  says  in  his  admirable  volume,  The 
Christ  of  the  Men  of  Art  (T.  &  T.  Clark)  chap,  i,  that 
there  is  more  to  be  said  for  the  authenticity  of  the  tradi- 
tional face  than  has  been  generally  admitted.  There  is  a 
tradition  that  St.  Luke  was  not  only  a  physician  but  a 
painter,   and   a   portrait   of  Jesus   attributed   to   him   is 

treasured  in  the  Vatican.     It  cannot  be  supposed  authen- 

416 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS 

tic,  but  is  very  early,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  in 
outline  it  is  the  traditional  face  which  is  presented  therein. 
The  present  writer  remembers  seeing  many  years  ago  a 
remarkable  portrait  of  Jesus  which  had  been  discovered 
in  the  wall  of  the  church  of  San  Silvestro  in  Capite  at 
Rome.  It  was  believed  to  date  from  the  6th  century, 
and  had  been  built  into  the  wall  to  save  it  from  destruc- 
tion at  the  hands  of  marauding  invaders.  The  colors 
were  quite  fresh.  This  also  was  a  representation  of  the 
traditional  face. 

But  the,  whole  subject  is  one  with  an  interest  and  a 
literature  of  its  own.  In  addition  to  Mr.  Aitken's  book, 
mentioned  above,  the  reader  might  consult  Dean  Farrar's 
Life  of  Christ  in  Art  and  Sir  Wyke  Bayliss'  Rex 
Regum.  Dean  Farrar  takes  the  view  that  the  traditional 
face  of  Christ  is  conventional  only,  and  that  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing  what  He  was  really  like ;  Sir  Wyke  Bay- 
liss  argues  for  the  contrary  view. 


APPENDIX— NOTE  B 

THE  KIND  OF  HOME  IN  WHICH  JESUS  LIVED 

In  a  country  like  Palestine,  where  so  much  life  is  spent 
in  the  open  air,  dwellings  tend  to  be  simpler  than  with  us, 
at  any  rate  among  all  classes  except  the  very  wealthy. 
As  Jesus  did  not  belong  to  the  latter  it  is  probable  that 
the  house  which  sheltered  Him,  in  Capernaum  as  well  as 
in  Nazareth,  would  be  comparatively  small  and  rudely 
built.  The  Capernaum  house  would  be  larger  if  Jesus 
intended  to  make  it  a  kind  of  community  headquarters, 
which  may  have  been  the  fact ;  it  is  not  at  all  probable 
that  the  house  in  which  He  spent  His  early  years  at  Naza- 
reth could  have  accommodated  an  audience.  It  would  be 
built  of  clay,  or  clay  and  stone,  and  roofed  with  clay 
and  wattles.  It  might  contain  two  or  three  rooms,  but 
hardly  more.  There  would  not  be  much  furniture — a  low 
table  for  meals,  a  few  rude  kitchen  utensils,  a  sm.all,  open, 
oil  lamp,  vessels  to  contain  water,  corn,  and  oil  or  per- 
haps wine,  would  be  about  all  except  a  few  pallets  for 
sleeping  on.  The  Capernaum  house  may  have  been  ar- 
ranged around  a  courtyard  after  the  Graeco-Roman  fash- 
ion, as  shown  in  the  excavations  at  Ostia  and  Pompeii. 
Life  was  much  simpler  in  Palestine  in  Jesus'  day  than  in 
the  modern  western  world,  and  still  is ;  but  due  allowance 
should  be  made  for  the  fact  that  Galilee  then  was  much 
more  fertile  and  prosperous  than  the  same  district  is 
now. 

Jewish  home  life  was  much  superior  to  that  of  sur- 

418 


HOME  IN  WHICH  JESUS  LIVED 

rounding  nations  in  so  far  as  personal  relationships  were 
concerned.  The  mother  held  an  honored  position  and 
was  the  child's  principal  teacher  until  He  was  old  enough 
to  go  to  the  synagogue.  Both  at  home  and  in  the  syna- 
gogue education  had  a  definitely  religious  basis.  In  the 
school  connected  with  the  synagogue  Jesus  would  be 
taught  to  read  and  write  and  cast  accounts  in  addition  to 
memorizing  and  reciting  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures ; 
but  it  would  be  from  His  mother  that  he  would  first  learn 
the  great  truths  of  religion  as  understood  by  the  nation 
to  which  He  belonged.  That  the  atmosphere  of  this  home 
was  one  of  earnest  piety  and  devotion  may  be  gathered, 
not  only  from  the  utterances  of  the  world's  greatest  re- 
ligious genius,  who  was  trained  in  it,  but  still  more,  per- 
haps, from  the  fact  that  a  man  like  James  the  just  was 
also  an  inmate  thereof ;  for  the  one  writing  of  his  which 
we  possess  is  redolent  of  the  finest  type  of  Old  Testament 
piety  and  morals. 


I 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Addis:  Hebrew  Religion. 

AiTKEN,  J.  R. :  The  Christ  of  the  Men  of  Art. 

Armitage,  Robinson  :  The  Study  of  the  Gospels. 

Barrett,  Sir  William:  On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen. 

BorssET:  Jesus. 

Box:  The  Virgin  Birth  of  Jesus. 

Bruce:  The  Kingdom  of  God;  The  Parabolic  Teaching 
of  Christ;  The  Training  of  the  Twelve;  The  Mi- 
racidous  Element  in  the  Gospels. 

Burkitt:  The  Earliest  Sources  of  the  Life  of  Jesus;  Jew- 
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Bushnell:  Nature  and  the  Supernatural. 

Campbell,  Lewis:  Religion  in  Greek  Literature. 

Carpenter,  Prin,  Estlin:  The  Historical  Jesus  and  the 
Theological  Christ;  The  First  Three  Gospels. 

Charles,  R.  H.  :  Religious  Development  between  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments;  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Pa- 
triarchs. 

Chase,  Bishop:  The  Gospels  in  the  Light  of  Historical 
Criticism. 

CoNYBEARE :  The  Historical  Christ. 

Deissmann:  Bible  Studies,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East. 

Dill:  Roman  Society  from  Nero  to  Marcus  Aurelvtis. 

Drews  :  The  Christ  Myth. 

421 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Drummond,  Prin.  :  The  Character  and  Authorship  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel. 

Edersheim:  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah. 
Encyclopaedia  Biblica:  Articles  In. 
Erskine  of  Linlathen  :  The  Spiritual  Order. 
Eucken:  The  Life  of  the  Spirit;  Problems  of  Human  Life 

(for  teaching  of  Jesus  philosophically  examined). 
Expositor's  Greek  Testament,  The. 

Fairbairn,  Prin,  :  Studies  in  the  Life  of  Christ. 
Farrar:  Christ  in  Art. 

Forrest:  Christ  of  History  and  of  Experience. 
Frazer:   Golden  Bough  (sections). 

Gardner:  Exploratio  Evangelica. 

Glover,  T.  R.  :  Conflict  of  Religions  in-the  Early  Roman 
Empire;  The  Jesus  of  History. 

Gore:  Dissertations  on  Subjects  Connected  with  the  In^ 
carnation;  Prayer  and  the  Lord's  Prayer;  The  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount. 

Hamilton  :  The  People  of  God. 

Harnack:  Expansion  of  Christianity  (Vol.  I)  ;  Luke  the 

Physician;  The  Sayings  of  Jesus. 
Harris,  Rendel :  Sidelights  on  New  Testament  Research. 
Hastings  Dictionary  of  the  Bible:  Articles  in. 
Hawkins:  Horae  Synopticae. 
Headlam:  The  Miracles  of  the  New  Testament. 

Keim  :  Jesus  of  Nazara. 

KiRsopp,  Lake  :  The  Resurrection  of  Christ. 

Latham:  Pastor  Pastorum;  The  Risen  Master. 
Lecky:  History  of  European  Morals. 
Liddon:  Bampton  Lectures;  Sermons  on  Some  Words  of 
Christ. 

422 


1 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Lobstein:  The  Virgin  Birth  of  Christ. 
Lodge,  Sir  Oliver  :  Survival  of  Man. 
Loisy:  The  Religion  of  Israel. 

Marti  :  Religion  of  Old  Testament. 

MiLUGAN :  The  Resurrection  of  Our  Lord. 

Moffat:  A  New  Translation  of  the  New  Testament. 

Montefiore:  The  Religious  Teaching  of  Jesus;  The  Re- 
ligion of  the  Ancient  Hebrews;  The  Synoptic  Gos- 
pels. 

Moulton,  J.  H. :  Earhj  Zoroastrianism  (for  Magi). 

Murray:  Jesus  and  His  Parables. 

Murray,  Gilbert  :  Four  Stages  of  Greek  Religion. 

Myers,  F.  W.  H.:  Human  Personality  and  Its  Survival 
of  Bodily  Death. 

Oesterley:  Introduction  to  the  ApocrypJia. 

Peake,  a.  S.  :  Critical  Intro'Suction  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 
Petrie,  Flinders:    The  Growth  of  the  Gospels. 
Pfleiderer  :  Early  Christian  Conceptions  of  Christ. 

Ramsay,  Sir  W.  M.  :  EducaJion  of  Christ;  The  Church 

in  the  Roman  Empire;  Luke  the  Physician. 
Renan  :  Life  of  Christ. 
Robertson,  J.  M. :  Pagan  Christs. 
Ryle  and  James  :  The  Psalms  of  Solomon. 

Sadler,  Gilbert:  Behind  the  Nero  Testament;  The  Inner 

Meaning  of  the  Four  Gospels  (regards  CKrlst  as  an 

ideal  only). 
Sanday:  The  Criticism,   of  the  Fourth   Gospel;   Life  of 

Christ  in  Recent  Research;  Outlines  of  the  Life  of 

Christ. 

Schaff  :  History  of  the  ChnrcU. 

423 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Schmiedel:  TJie  Jolionnine  Writings  (over-empHasizea 
the  allegorical  character  of  the  Gospel), 

ScHURER :  The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Schweitzer  :  The  Quest  of  the  Historical  Jesus. 

Scott,  E.  F.  :  The  Fourth  Gospel. 

Seeley:  Ecce  Homo. 

Smith,  David  :  The  Days  of  His  Flesh. 

Smith,  George  Adam  :  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy 
Land. 

Stanton  :  The  Gospels  as  Historical  Documents. 

Strauss  :  Leben  Jesu. 

Swete:  The  Holy  Catholic  Church;  Studies  in  the  Teach- 
ing of  Our  Lord. 

S.  P.  C.  K. :  Series  of  translations  of  Apocalyptic  and 
other  writings  edited  by  Dr.  Oesterley  and  Canon 
Box  (most  useful  and  helpful). 

Thompson,  J.  M. :  The  Synoptic  Gospels. 

Tyrrell:  Christianity  at  the  Cross  Roads. 

VoN  HiJGEL :  Eternal  Life. 

Von  Soden  :  The  History  of  Early  Christian  Literature. 

Walker,  W.  L.  :  The  Teaching  of  Christ. 
Weiss,  B.  :  Life  of  Christ. 
Wendt  :  The  Teaching  of  Jesus. 

Wright:  Synopsis  of  the  Gospels  (attributes  much  im- 
portance to  oral  tradition). 

Zollner:   Transceridental  Physics. 


INDEX 


Abgar,  legend  of,  91 

Addis,  note  7 

Adulteress,   Christ  and  an, 

351 
Aenon,  near  Salim,  176 
Aitken,  Rev.  J.  R.,  416 
Alabaster    box    of    precious 

ointment,  368 
Allegories,     See  Parables 
Andrew,   brother  of  Simon 

Peter,  153,  154 
calling  of,  184 
Anna  the  prophetess,  67,  111 
Annas  sends  Jesus  to  Caia- 

phas,  384 
Annunciation,    the,    105    et 

seq. 
Antipas.     See  Herod  Anti- 
pas 
Apocalyptic,     idea     of    the 

Messiah,  140,  141 
importance  of,  47  et  seq. 
Apocryphal  gospels,  the,  28, 

90  et  seq.,  115 
Apostles,  call  and  selection 

of  the,  185 
dispute     for     precedence, 

327 
powers  granted  to,  234 
return  from  their  mission, 

236 
sent  out  two  and  two,  185 
their  mission,  185 
Apostolic    story    of   life    of 

Jesus,  24  et  seq. 


425 


Aramaic  language,  the,  69, 
70 

Archelaus,  son  of  Herod  the 
Great,  115 

Arimathffia,  Joseph  of.  See 
Joseph 

Ascension,  the,  398 

Auber,  Harriet,  a  well- 
known  hymn  by,  255 

Augustus,  Emperor,  104 

Baal  worship,  6 

Bahai  movement,  the,  331 

Banias.  See  CEesarea  Phil- 
ippi 

Baptism,  242 

an  essential  for  admission 
of  Gentiles  into  Juda- 
ism, 58 
of  Christ,  127 
symbolic  nature   of,   126, 
174 

Barabbas,  387 

Bar-jona.    See  Peter 

Bartimaeus,  healing  of,  363 

Bauer,  Bruno,  and  the  gos- 
pel tradition,  41 

Baur,  F.  C,  42 

Bayliss,  Sir  Wyke,  417 

Beatitudes,  the  versions  of 
Matthew  and  Luke,  191, 
195 

Being,  the  two  planes  of,  7 
et  seq. 

Benefactors,  341 


INDEX 


Benson,  R.  H.,  "Necroman- 
cers" of,  264  note 

Bethany,  364,  366 

Christ  at  house  of  Laza- 
rus at,  366 
Christ's  home  at,  350,  352 

Bethabara,  354 

Bethlehem,    birth    of   Jesus 
at,  106,  107  et  seq. 

Bethphage,  364 

Bethsaida,  265,  266,  268 
woe       pronounced        on, 
304 

Bethsaida,  Julius,  311 

Beysehlag  and  the  gospels, 
43 

Blasphemy,     the     unforgiv- 
able sin,  255 

Blind  and  dumb  men  healed, 
205 
healed  by  Christ,  351 

Boanerges,  329 

Boat,  Christ  preaches  from 
a,  185,  256 

Body    of    Christ   after   His 
resurrection,  408 

"Bread  of  life,"  Jesus  the, 
269,  281,  344 

Bruce,  Professor  A.  B.,  218, 
241,  341 
and   the    Sermon    on   the 

Mount,  190 
on  Matthew,  193  note 
on  the  miracles  of  Christ, 
159 

Buddha,  132 

Burial  of  Christ,  395 

Burkitt,  Dr.,  47  note,  285 

Bushnell,  12  note 

Csesarea  Philippi,  the  scene 
at,  311 
et  seq.,  323 
Caiaphas    the    high    priest, 
373,  384 


426 


Calvary,  the  procession  to, 
391 

Campbell,  Lewis,  4  note 

Cana  of  Galilee,  wedding 
feast  in,  158,  ef  seq., 
186 

Canonical  gospels,  the,  27 

Capernaum,  an  eventful  dis- 
course at,  269,  281,  344 
Jesus  at,  after  the  miracle 

at  Cana,  164 
Jesus'  home  in,  418 
the     earliest     center     of 

Christ's  ministry,  165 
woe  pronounced  on,  304 

Carpenter,  Principal  Estlin, 
26  note 

Cave,  a,  the  scene  of  the  Na- 
tivity, 107 

Census,  the,  103  et  seq. 

Centurion's  servant,  healing 
of,  148,  182,  307 

Charles,  R.  H.,  47  note 

Childhood  gospels,  the,  91 

Chorazin,  woe  pronounced 
on,  304 

Christ,  the  genealogies  of, 
100  et  seq,  See  also 
Jesus 

Christ  Myth  controversy, 
the,  26,  35,  41 

Christian  creeds,  the,  sub- 
stance of,  25 

Christian  Passover,  the,  in- 
stitution of,  375 

Christianity,  birth  of,  52 
change  wrought  by,  on  the 
world,  133 

Christians,  duties  of,  298 

Church,  the,  a  fact  in  his- 
tory, 18 
and  devotional  knowledge 

of  Jesus,  22 
apostolic  nature  of,  20 

Circumcision  of  Christ,  111 


i 


INDEX 


City  gate,   the,   as  meeting 

place,  206 
Clairaudienee,  323 
Clairvoyance,  323 
Cleansing.    See  Temple 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  120 

note 
Cleopas,  403 
Conybeare,  F.  C,  26  note, 

63  note 
Corn  plucked  by   disciples 

on  Sabbath  day,  227 
Criticism,  the  problem  of,  32 
Crookes,    Sir    William,    280 

note 
Cross,    the,    Christ's   words 

from,  393,  394 
Crucifixion  of  Christ,  392 
the     inscription     on     the 

cross,  392 
Cyrus  the  Persian,  139 


){> 


Dalmanutha,  30! 

Davidic   descent  of   Christ, 

348 
Decapolis,  Jesus  in,  308 
Dead  raised  by  our  Lord,  359 
Dead,    the,    to    bury    their 

dead,  334 
Dedication,  Feast  of,  Christ 

at,  351 
Demoniac,  blind  and  dumb, 

cured,  205 
Demoniacal  possession,  149, 

260,  325 
Demoniacs,  Gadarene,  260 
Diatessaron  of  Tatian,  the, 

92 
Disciples,  the,  call  and  selec- 
tion of,  184 
forsake   Jesus,    270,    283, 

302 
the  first,  152  et  seq. 
the  seventy,  184,  235,  236 
Disease  and  its  origin,  148 


427 


Dives  and  Lazarus,  parable 

of,  355 
Docetic  nature  of  Gospel  of 

Peter,  95 
Dorner,  31  note,  92  note 
Drews,  26  note 
Dropsy,  a  man  afflicted  with, 

healed  by  Christ,  230 
Drummond,    Principal,     84 

note 
Dunraven,  Lord,  280  note 

Earth,  the,  rise  of  organic 
life  in,  1,  8 

Easter  Sunday,  the  first,  396 

Edersheim,  112  note,  135 
note 

Education  of  Christ,  117, 
118 

Egyptians,  Gospel  according 
to  the,  90,  93,  94 

Elias  at  Christ's  transfigu- 
ration, 321 

Elizabeth,  mother  of  John 
the  Baptist,  123 

Emmaus,  Christ 's  appear- 
ance to  disciples  on  the 
way  to,  403,  405 

Emmet,  Robert,  66 

Enoch,  book  of,  and  the  Mes- 
sianic title,  140 

Enrollment.    See  Census 

Ephraim,  361 

Epiphany,  109,  111  et  seq. 

Epistles,  the,  value  of,  in  in- 
terpreting the  gospels, 
25 

Erskine  of  Linlathen,  12 
note 

Eschatological  school,  the, 
and  New  Testament 
criticism,  45,  373 

Esoteric  teaching  in  Christ's 
words,  295 

Essenes,  the,  62,  124 


INDEX 


Eucken,  14  note 
Eusebius,  69,  74,  192 
Evangelists,  the,  gospels  of, 

69  et  seq. 
their     accounts     of     the 

transfiguration,        321, 

322 
Extra-canonical  writings,  90 

et  seq.,  115 

Fairbairn,  Principal,  on 
miracles,  258  note 

Faith,  Christ's  insistence  on 
necessity  of,  290 
the  perfect,  325 

Farrar,  Dean,  417 

Fasting,  Christ's  answer  to 
John's  disciples  regard- 
ing, 224 

Fayum  fragment,  the,  90 

Feast,  an  unnamed,  in  John 
v.,  205 

Fig-tree,  parablo  of,  356 

''Fishers  of  men,"  185 

Fishes,  miraculous  draught 
of,  185 

Fitzgerald,  Edward,  66 

Five   thousand,    feeding   of 
the,  206,  267  et  seq. 
the  miracle  discussed,  270 

Fool,  parable  of  the  rich,  334 

Forgiveness,  Jesus'  insist- 
ence on  necessity  of,  301 

Forgiveness  of  sins  by 
Christ,  188,  209,  210 

Four  thousand,  feeding  of 
the,  308 

Francis  of  Assisi,  St.,  86, 
214 

Gadarene  demoniac,  healing 

of,  260 
swine,  episode  of,  205,  261 
Galilean  ministry  of  Christ, 

181 


Christ's     disappointment 
at  spiritual  results  of, 
303 
Galilee,  Christ's  final  retire- 
ment from,  305 
Ilellenization  of,  55,  56 
Sea   of,   sudden   tempests 
in,  257  note.     See  also 
Gennesaret 
the  settlement  in,  114 
Genealogies,  the,  100  et  seq. 
Gennesaret,  Lake  of,  sudden 

storms  on,  280 
Gerizim,  Mount,  55 
German  criticism  on  the  gos- 
pels, 40  et  seq. 
Gethsemane,  Garden  of,  380 
our       Lord 's       threefold 
prayer  in,  381,  382 
Gladstone;  W,  E.,  16 
Glover,  Dr.,  4  note,  138 

on  the  Jewish  people,  65 
Gnosticism  and  the  pseudo- 
gospels,  92 
God,  Jewish  conception  of, 

7 
Good  Samaritan,  parable  of, 

356 
Gore,  132,  147  note,  200,  291 

note 
Gospel,  origin  of  name,  27 
Gospel    tradition,    sequence 

of,  41 
Gospels,  the,  and  the  apos- 
tolic story,  26 
canonical    and  uncanoni- 

cal,  68  et  seq. 
earliest  writing  of,  68  et 

seq. 
origin  of,  25 
Greek  civilization,  classical, 
4 
influence      on      apostolic 
Christians,  54 


428 


INDEX 


language,  and  the  Gospels, 
69 
Grenfell  and  Hunt,  Messrs., 
and     the     Oxyrhyncus 
sayings,  90 

Hamilton,  Prof.,  5  note,  7 

note,  191  note 
Harnack,  Adolf  von,  44,  92 

note,  192,  193 
Harris,  Rendel,  14  note,  54 

note,  84,  94  note,  330 
Healing,  Christ's  works  of, 

186  ct  seq. 
Hebrew  Gospel,  the,  69 
Hebrews,    Gospel   according 

to  the,  90,  92,   93,   94, 

122,  336  note 
Herod  Antipas,  Christ  sent 

by  Pilate  to,  386 
desires  to  see  Christ,  245 
orders  execution  of  John 

the  Baptist,  245 
rebuked  by  John  the  Bap- 
tist, 176 
Herod  Philip,  311 
Herod  the  Great,  112,  113 

death  of,  115 
Herodians,  230,  231,  303 
Herodias,  245 
Higher  criticism,  iheories  of, 

32  et  seq. 
misleading  results  of,  21 
Hill,  J.  Arthur,  on  miracles, 

186  note 
Hillel,  law  of,  59 
Hinnom,  valley  of,  299 
Holtzmann,  H.  J.,  320  note 
and  the  synoptic  problem, 

43 
Holtzmann,  Oskar,  248  note, 

408  note 
Home,  D.  D.,  280  note 
Houses,  Oriental,  418 
Hiigel,  Baron  von,  15 


429 


Immaculate  Conception,  dog- 
ma of  the,  97 

Impotent  man  healed  at  pool 
of  Bethesda,  206,  228 

Ireland,  66 

Iseariot.    See  Judas 

Israelitish  prophets,  rise  of, 
5 

Jacob's  well,  177 

Jairus'  daughter,  raising  of, 

359 
James,   the  Lord's  brother, 

121,  122,  404 
head    of    the    church    at 

Jerusalem,  80,  117,  121, 

404 
James  the  Just,  419 
James  the  Less,  calling  of, 

184 
Christ's  post-resurrection 

appearance  to,  406 
intimacy  with  Christ,  340, 

341 
rebuked   by   Christ,    329, 

333 
sleeps  in  Gethsemane,  381 
witnesses  the  transfigura- 
tion, 320 
Jehovah,  JcAvish  conception 

of,  6 
Jerusalem,    Christ's    lamen- 
tation over,  354,  355 
Christ 's   post-resurrection 

appearances  in,  400  et 

seq. 
Christ's  triumphant  entry 

into,  364 
examination    of    Christ's 

discourses  at,  180 
Feast  of  the  Passover  at, 

118,  165 
Temple    at,    55;    veil    of, 

rent,  395 


INDEX 


the  boy  Jesus  in,  118  et 
seq. 
Jesus,  a  specific  commission 
to  Peter,  313 
and  a  would-be  adherent, 
,      333 
and  Messiahship,  140 
and    the    woman    of    Sa- 
maria, 177 
arrest    of,    in    Jerusalem, 

359^ 
ascension  of,  398 
as  teacher,  284  et  seq. 
at  the  Feast  of  the  Pass- 
over, 118 
baptism  of,  127 
calls   Himself  "the  light 
of  the  world,"  349,  350 
canonical  sayings  of,   69, 

70 
characteristics      of      His 

teaching,  189 
commencement     of     His 
public  life,  152  et  seq. 
compelled  to  bear  His  own 

cross,  391 
conditions  in  time  of,  50 

et  seq. 
crucifixion  of,  392 
culminating  period  of  His 

ministry,  248 
declares  His  Messiahship, 

178 
denounces        Pharisaism, 

243,  309,  371 
discloses  His  identity   to 

the  Apostles,  314 
discourages  sabbatical  su- 
perstitions, 227,  228,  229 
early  ministry  of,  202  et 

seq. 
education  of,  117,  118 
events  antecedent  to  last 
Passover,  357  et  seq. 


examination  and  trial  of, 
387  et  seq. 

failed  by  His  friends,  302, 
380 

feeds  the  five  thousand, 
206,  267  et  seq. 

feeds  the  four  thousand, 
308 

first  allusion  to  His  death, 
170 

first  miracle  of,  159 

forbids  proclamation  of 
His  miracles,  204 

foretells  destruction  of  the 
Temple,  371 

foretells  His  death  and 
resurrection,  314,  316, 
317,  343 

forsaken  by  His  friends  in 
Garden  of  Gethsemane, 
381 

heals  daughter  of  Syro- 
Phoenician  woman,  307 

heals  dumb  man  possessed 
with  a  devil,  205 

heals  the  Centurion's  ser- 
vant, 307 

hints  at  His  coming  pas- 
sion, 225 

His  commission  to  the 
apostles,  232  et  seq. 

His  conception  of  Mes- 
siahship, 129 

His  dislike  of  crowds,  256, 
265 

His  last  supper,  374 

His  ministry,  148 

His  power  over  the  exter- 
nal world,  256  et  seq. 
His  progress  towards  Je- 
rusalem, 331 
His    relations    with    His 
family,  248  et  seq. 


430 


INDEX 


'U 


His  relations  with  John 
the  Baptist,  125  et  seq. 

His  resurrection,  396  et 
seq. 

His  trade,  120,  122 

His  veiled  reference  to 
His  crucifixion  and  as- 
cension, 349 

His  wanderings  in  the 
north,  311 

His  warning  against  blas- 
phemy, 255 

home  in  Capernaum,  418 

home  life  of,  118 

in  the  Temple,  116,  119 

kindred  of,  119,  120  et  seq. 

last  appearances  of,  400 
et  seq. 

last  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
362  et  seq. 

last  phase  of  His  minis- 
try, 302  et  seq. 

life  of,  24 

the  New  Testament  and, 
.24 

miracles  of.    See  Miracles 

mother  tongue  of,  69 

mystery  of  His  self-knowl- 
edge, 144 

nativity  and  childhood  of, 
52,  80,  96  et  seq. 

on  the  threshold  of  the 
ministry,  125  et  seq. 

parables  of.    See  Parables 

personal  appearance  of, 
413  et  seq. 

personality  of,  347 

presentation  of,  in  the 
Temple,  111 

principal  sources  for  the 

life  of,  25  et  seq. 
problem  of  life  of,  16  et 

seq. 
raises  Lazarus,  358  et  seq., 
360 


reason   of   His   ministry, 

151 
rebukes  Peter,  316 
refused  accommodation  in 

a     Samaritan     village, 

332 
relations     with     kindred, 

345 
replies    to    the    Baptist's 

message,  239 
repudiates  a  conventional 

compliment,  336 
retires  to  foreign  soil,  305 
returns  to  Capernaum,  207 
reveals    Himself    as    the 

Messiah,  129 
scourging  of,  388 
second    cleansing    of    the 

Temple,  371 
sinlessness  of,  150 
stills  a  tempest,  205,  256, 

258,  275 
svmbolie   phraseology   of, 
'  288 
teaches  in  the  synagogues 

and    the    Temple,    183, 

184,  205,  346 
teaches  to  pray,  291 
temptation  of,  132  et  seq. 
testimony    to     John    the 

Baptist,  239 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 

190  et  seq. 
thought     to    be     "beside 

Himself,"  248 
transfiguration  of,  318 
triumphal  entry  into  Je- 
rusalem, 364 
upbraids  the  cities,  304 
uses   every-day  incidenta 

as  illustrations  of  spirit- 
ual truth,  198 
walks  on  the  sea,  256,  275 
washes  the  disciples'  feet, 

377 


431 


INDEX 


Jewish  idea  of  restored  king- 
dom of  Israel,  137 

religion,  influence  of,   on 
the  world,  5 
Jews  attempt  to  stone  Jesus, 
350,  353 

feud  with  Samaritans,  55, 
332 

home  life  of,  418,  419 

persecution  of,  52 

religious  instincts  of,  51 

resentment  of  the  national 
census,  103,  104 

seek  to  kill  Jesus,  282 
John,  St.,  84,  153,  154 

at  Christ's  grave,  399 

calling  of,  184 

Christ's  post-resurrection 
appearance  to,  406 

gospel  of,  83  et  seq. 
striking    omissions    in, 

89,98 
symbolism,    the    distin- 
guishing   feature    of, 
88 

present   at   Calvary,    171 
note,  394 

rebuked   by   Christ,    329, 
333 

sleeps  in  Gethsemane,  381 

witnesses  the  transfigura- 
tion, 320 

John  the  Baptist,  123 

arrest   and  imprisonment 
of,  164,  175,  237 

his  baptism  of  repentance, 
175 

his  message  to  Jesus,  237 

his  testimony,  176 

murder  of,  131,  245 

relations  with  Jesus,  125 
et  seq. 

reproves  Herod,  244 
Jones,  Dr.  Tudor,  14  note 


Joseph  of  Arimathsea,  60 
present  at  Christ's  burial, 
175,  395 
Joseph   the    carpenter,    his- 
tory of,  80 
husband  of  the  Virgin,  97, 
100,   102,   et  seq.,  119, 
120 
Josephus,  62  note 
Judea,  conditions  in,  56 
Judaism,  6 

the  progenitor   of   Chris- 
tianity and  Mohammed- 
anism, 52 
Judas  Iscariot,  283 
avarice  of,  369 
betrays  Christ,  370,   373, 

376,  383 
probably  a  brother  of  Laz- 
arus,''358,  370 
Judas  of  Galilee,  103 
Jude,  121 
Justin  Martyr,  113 

Keim  and  the  gospel  tradi- 
tions, 42 

*'Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven,"  the,  312 

Kidron,  Brook  of,  380 

Kingdom  of  God,  the,  good 
news  of,  136  et  seq. 

Kingdom,  the,  and  the  Mes- 
siah,  138. 

King's  banquet,  parable  of, 
355 

Kiss,  Christ  betrayed  by  a, 
383 

Laborers    in    the   vineyard, 

parable  of,  362 
"Lamb   of  God,"  Jesus  as 

the,  129,  130 
Last  Judgment,  the,  parable 

of,  285,  373 


432 


INDEX 


Last  Supper,  the,  374 
was  it  an  actual  Passover  ? 

374 
Latham,  Dr.,  88  note,  399 
Law,  Jewish,  and  its  vota- 
ries, 56  et  seq. 
Lazarus,  raising  of,  344,  358 
Lecky,  W.  E.,  4  note 
Leper,  a,  cleansed  by  Christ, 

204 
Lepers,  cleansing  of  ten,  3G1 
Levitation,  phenomenon  of, 

279,  323 
Liddon,    Canon,    145    note, 

166 
Lietzmann  on  the  **Son  of 

Man,"  142 
Loisy,  7  note 
Luke,  St.,  80,  99 

and  the  virgin  birth,  102 
Gospel   according  to,    69, 

70,  77,  78  et  seq. 
Gospel  of,  omissions  in,  77, 

82,  102 

Magi,  the,  visit  of,  108,  112 

et  seq. 
Magnificat,  the,  and  its  ori- 
gin, 108 
Man,  evolution  of,  8 

his  power  and  limitations, 

10,  11 
primeval,  1 
religious  instincts  of,  2  et 

seq. 
Marcion,  Gospel  of,  90 
Mark,  St.,  Gospel  according 

to,  68,12  et  seq.,  98,  202; 

omissions  in,  240 
Marriage  of  the  King's  son, 

parable  of,  355 
Martha,   sister   of   Lazarus, 

356,  357-358 
Marti,  5  note,  7  note 


433 


Mary  Magdalene,  367 

at  Christ's  tomb,  397,  398 
Christ's     appearance     to, 

400 
identified  with  woman  in 
house     of     Simon     the 
Pharisee,  367 
Mary,  sister  of  Lazarus,  356, 
357,  358 
anoints  Christ's  head  and 
feet,  366,  368 
Mary,  the  Virgin,  80,  91,  99 
and  the  wedding  feast  at 

Cana,  161 
assumption  of,  history  of, 

91 
at  the  cross,  392 
reproaches  Jesus,  119 
Matthew,  St.,  and  the  Mes- 
sianic prophecy,  70 
assumed  to  be  Levi,  214, 

215 
calling  of,  213 
gives  a  feast,  215 
Gospel  of,  69,  70,  71,  75 
his  account  of  Sermon  on 

the  Mount,  193  et  seq. 
his  version  of  the  geneal- 

ogy  of  Jesus,  100  et  seq. 

Matthew   (pseudo-).  Gospel 

of,  91 
Mead,  G.  E.  S.,  92  note 
Messiah,   Jewish  notion   of, 
135,  138 
Pharisaical  view  of  the,  60 
Messiahship,   announcement 
of,  178 
Jesus  and,  140 
Metaphor,  Jesus'  use  of,  299 
Miracle,  definition  of  a,  159 

the  first,  159 
Miracles,  present-day,  159 
wrought    by    Jesus,    182, 
185,   186,   et  seq.,  204, 


INDEX 


205  ef  seq.,  228  et  seq., 
239,  279,  307,  308,  311, 
325,  351,  358,  359.  See 
also  Nature  miracles 

Mob  psychology,  problem  of, 
390 

Mohammedanism,   birth   of, 
52 

Mons,  the  angels  of,  14 

Montefiore,  Mr,,  7  note,  59, 
64 
on  the  Pharisees,  51 

Mosaic  Law,  Jewish  allegi- 
ance to  the,  56 

Moses  at  Christ's  transfigu- 
ration, 321 

Mount  Gerizim,  55 

Mount,  Sermon  on  the,  78, 
190 

Mountain,  Christ  retires  for 
prayer  to  a,  274 

Murray,    Prof.    Gilbert,    4 
note 

Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  264  note 
on    the    resurrection     of 
Christ,  408 

Nain,  raising  of  widow's  son 
at,  359 

Nathanael  of  Cana  in  Gali- 
lee, 67 

Nathanael,  the  Apostle,  call- 
ing of,  156,  157 
Christ 's  post-resurrection 
appearance  to,  406 

Nativity   and   childhood   of 
Jesus,  80,  96  et  seq. 

Nativity  of  Mary,  Gospel  of, 
91,  120  note 

Natural  order,  the,  8  et  seq. 
invasion   of,  by  superna- 
tural, 13 

Nature    miracles,    Christ's, 
256  et  seq. 
modern-day,  258 


spiritual   significance  of, 

259,  269 
See  also  Miracles 
Nazareth,  Christ  reads  and 

expounds  the  scripture 

at,  183 
Jesus'  home  at,  418 
the  holy  family  settle  in, 

115 
Necromancy  discouraged  by 

the  Church,  263 
New  Testament  criticism,  32 

et  seq. 
of  what  composed,  25 
the  apostolic  story  and,  24 

et  seq. 
the  Church  and,  19 
the  Epistles  and  Gospels 

of,  25 
Nicodemus,  60 
at  Christ's  burial,  175,  395 
Christ 's    interview    with, 

172 
Gospel  of,  91 
mentioned  in  the  Talmud, 

173 
speaks     in     defence     of 

Christ,  175 
Nobleman's  son,  healing  of, 

182 
Non-resistance  to  evil,  Jesus' 

teaching  on,  296 


O'Brien,  Smith,  66 
Open-air       preaching 

Christ,  203,  204 
Origen,  94,  120  note 
Oxyrhyncus,      sayings 

Jesus  from,  90 


of 


of 


434 


Palestine    and    the    world- 
empire,  53  et  seq. 

houses  in,  418 

population  of,  66 
Palm  Sunday,  365 


1 


INDEX 


Papias,  69,  192 

and     Petrine     origin     of 

Mark's  Gospel,  73,  74 

Parables,   Christ's  teaching 

in,  198,  218,  220  et  seq., 

256,  355,  356,  362,  373 

Paradise,  393 

Paralytic  healed  on  the  Sab- 
bath day,  205,  209 
Parousia,  the,  defined,  237 
Passion  week,  371 
Passover,  Feast  of,  165 
Passover,  was  the  Last  Sup- 
per a?  374 
Paul,  St.,  79,  98,  198,  199 
Pauline  epistles,  the,  25,  26, 
42 
origin  of  the  Gospels,  79 
People,  the  state  of,  in  time 

of  Jesus,  63  et  seq. 
Perea,  Christ's  stay  in,  354, 

355 
Personal      appearance      of 

Jesus,  413  et  seq. 
Peter,  St.,  73  et  seq.,  171 
at  Christ's  grave,  401 
at  Christ 's  walking  on  the 

sea,  275 
Christ's    last    charge    to, 

402,  407 
Christ's  post-resurrection 

appearance  to,  402 
denies  Christ,  385 
Gospel  of,  90,  94 
his   bearing   at   the   Last 

Supper,  377 
his    position    among    the 

Apostles,  312 
his    profession    of   belief, 

156,  278,  283,  312 
rebukes  Jesus,  315 
sleeps  at  Gethsemane,  381 
traditional  crucifixion  of, 

76,  407 
warned  by  Christ,  378,  379 


witnesses  the  transfigura- 
tion, 320 
wounds   servant   of   high 
priest,  383 
Petrine  origin  of  the  Gos- 
pels, 73  et  seq. 
Pharisee  and  publican,  par- 
able of,  363 
Pharisees,  the,  57,  64 
and  baptism,  243 
as  Nonconformists  of  their 

age,  57 
Christ's  denunciation  of, 

243,  309,  371 
conspire  with  Herodians, 

230,  231 
demand     a     sign     from 

heaven,  309 
disciples  warned  against, 

310 
seek  to  kill  Jesus,  359 
the  leaven  of,  310 
their   hostility  to   Christ, 
176,  188,  203,  204,  222, 
224  et  seq.,  303  et  seq. 
Philo  of  Alexandria,  85 
Philip,  Gospel  of,  90 
Philip  the  Apostle,  156 
Phoenicia,   Christ  in  retire- 
ment in,  305 
Photism,  323 

Pilate,    cowardice    of,    386, 
387 
Jesus  before,  386 
presentiments  of,  387,  389 
washes  his  hands,  388 
Post-resurrection       appear- 
ances of  Christ,  400  et 
seq. 
Pounds,  parable  of  the,  363, 

373 
Prayer,  Christian  classic  on 
subject  of,  356 
importance    attached    by 
Christ  to,  291 


435 


INDEX 


Protestants  and  Mary  Mag- 
dalene, 367 

Protevangelium  of  James, 
the,  91,  95,  120  note 

Pseudo-gospels.  See  Apoc- 
ryphal Gospels 

Psychical  research  and  the 
transfiguration,  321 

Publicans,  their  unpopular- 
ity, 64,  215 

Rabbinical  schools,  teaching 

of,  306 
Ramsay,    Sir    William,    68, 

103,  108,  117 
Rationalism  and  the  Gospel, 

46 
Religion   and  morality:   Is- 
raelitish  conception  of, 
5 
and  race,  50  et  seq. 
in  history,  1  et  seq. 
the  root  of,  2 
what  it  is,  10 
Religious  parties  in  time  of 

Jesus,  57 
Renan,  and  his  life  of  Christ, 
35,  36 
on  Galilee,  54 
Restorer,  the,  141 
Resurrection,  the,  396  et  seq. 

Renan 's  theory  of,  36 
Riches  and  the  Kingdom  of 

God,  337 
Ritschl,  44  and  note 
Robertson,  J.  M.,  26  note 
Roman  Catholic  tradition  of 
Mary   Magdalene,    366, 
367 
Roman  Church  and  the  Im- 
maculate Conception,  97 
Ruler,    a   young    rich,    and 
Jesus,  334  et  seq. 


Sabbath,  the,  356 

Christ  held  to  have  vio- 
lated, 228  et  seq. 
Jewish  observance  of,  394, 

395 
observance,  Pharisees  and, 
228,  229  et  seq. 
Sacrifice,  Greek  idea  of,  4, 

5  and  note 
Sadducees,  the,  58,  60 
Salisbury,  Lord,  on  the  res- 
urrection, 396 
Salome,  daughter  of  Hero- 
dias,       dances      before 
Herod,  244 
Salome,  sister  of  the  Virgin 

Mary,  108,  122 
Samaria,  the  woman  of,  177 
Samaritan,  the  Good,  para- 
ble of,  356 
Samaritans,  55,  189 

hostility    with    Jews,    55, 
332 
Sanday,  Dr.,  80,  87  note,  99, 

164  note 
Sanhedrin,  the,  62,  63 
a  deputation  to  Christ,  167 
determines    on    arrest    of 

Jesus,  347,  373 
refusal    to   answer   about 

John's  baptism,  168 
their  motive  for  death  of 
Christ,  359 
Satan,  the  word,  316 
SchafiP,  138  note 
Schmiedel,  17  note,  86  note, 

163  note 
Schweitzer,  and  Holtzmann  's 
"Synoptic  Gospels,"  43, 
211,  236 
on  betrayal  of  Christ,  370 
Scourging  of  Christ,  388 
Scribes  and  their  duty,  58 
Seeley,  Prof.,  36,  201 


436 


INDEX 


Self-renunciation,    necessity 

of,  292 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the, 

78,  190 
Seventy  disciples,  the,  184, 

185,  235,  236 
Shammai,  law  of,  59 
Shepherds,  and  the  Nativity, 

109 
Sibyline  Oracles,  the,  143 
Simeon,  67,  111 
Simon  Bar-jona.    See  Peter 
Simon,  calling  of,  185 
Simon  of  Cyrene,  391 
Simon  the  Leper,  traditional 

account  of,  367 
Simon  the  Pharisee,  feast  at 

house  of,  367 
Simon's       wife's       mother 

healed,  185 
"Sinners,"  class  of,  64 
Smith,  David,  26  note 
Smith,  G.  A.,  129  note,  164 

note 
Soden,  von,  72  note 
Sollier,  Fr.,  10  note 
Son  of  David,  title  of,  141, 

143 
Son  of  God,  title  of,  141, 143, 

233,  276,  353 
Son    of    Man,    Christ    self- 
designation  as,  211 
title  of,  141 
"Sons  of  Thunder,"  329 
Spiritual     crisis     follo'v\'ino; 

baptism  of  Christ,  132 

et  seq. 
Stanton,  Professor,  87  note 
Stater  obtained  from  a  fish's 

mouth,  328 
Strauss,  16,  35,  41 
Supernatural  order,  the,  12 

et  seq. 
Renan  and,  36 

437 


Superphysical  \'ision,  possi- 
bility of,  321 

Swete,  Professor,  18  note,  94 
note 

Sychar,  near  Jacob's  well, 
177 

Synagogue  ministry,  end  of 
Christ's,  216 

Synagogues,  teaching  by 
Jesus  in,  182,  184,  203 

Synoptic   problem,   the,   75, 
83,  87 
Holtzmann  and,  43 
Ritschl  and,  44 
version    of    cleansing    of 
Temple,  166 

Syriac  version  of  St.  Mat- 
thew's Gospel,  100 

Syrian  coast,  Christ's  with- 
drawal to,  232 

Syro-Phcenician  woman  and 
her  demoniac  daughter, 
148,  307 

Tabernacles,  Feast  of,  332, 

344 
Tatian,  Diatessaron  of,  92 
Tell-Hum,  164 
Tempest    stilled   bv    Christ, 

205,  256,  258,  275 
Temple,  officials  of,  58 
second  cleansing  of,   165, 

371 
the  first  cleansing  of,  164 
tribute  and  how  defrayed, 

328 
veil   of,   rent   at   Christ's 

crucifixion,  395 
"Temple     of     His    body," 

Christ  speaks  of  the,  170 
Temptation  of  Christ  in  the 

wilderness,   123   et  seq. 
Testament   of   Joseph,    the, 

285 


INDEX 


Testaments    of    the    Twelve 
Patriarchs,  284 

Thief,    the    repentant,    392, 
393 

Thieves,       crucified       with 
Christ,  392 

Thomas,  Gospel  of,  90,  91 

Thomas  the  Apostle,  his  un- 
belief, 379 

Tiberias,  280 

Tombs,  Je^\^sh,  395 

Transfiguration,  the,  and  its 
sequel,  318  et  seq. 

Turner,  Professor,  77  note 
and  oral  tradition,  26  note 

Twelve  Apostles,  Gospel  of 
the,  90,  92,  145  note 

Unforgivable  sin,  the,  255 
Unjust  steward,  parable  of, 

355 
Upper  room,  the,  403,  405 

Virgin  Birth,  the,  89,  96  et 

seq. 
Virgins,  parable  of  the  ten, 

373 


Water  turned  into  wine,  163, 
186 

Wealth  as  hindrance  to 
membership  in  King- 
dom of  God,  337 

Weiss,  Bernhard,  and  the 
Gospels,  41,  43 

Wendt,  137  note 

Westcott,  95  note 

Wicksteed,  14  note 

Widow's  son,  raising  of,  359 

Wilke,  41 

Withered  hand  healed,  230 

Woman,  infirm,  healed,  356 

Woman  taken  in  adultery, 
the,  351 

Worship,  instinct  of,  in 
man,  3 

Yahwelu    See  Jehovah 

Zaecheus,     Jesus'    visit    to 

house  of,  363 
Zadokites,  61  note 
Zealots,  the,  60,  103 
Zebedee,  sons  of,  prosperous 

circumstances    of,    171 

note 
Zollner,  408  note 


(1) 


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